Reviews

A masterpiece !

In this drama you have 2 quests, one for the FL played by a stunning Yang Zi looking for her life, her love, and the second quest by Xiyan Cang Xuan looking to rule the empire.
Half of the drama is located in mortal realm, with the FL looking like a man, leaving as a doctor. She will meet the other leads there, but nobody will talk about her male appearance even if Xiang Liu and Tushan Jing discovered it. In the second part of the drama she will be back as a princess, and we will see more plots, broken love stories etc.
What s make this drama outstanding is the acting ! Yang Zi is clearly on my podium of Chinese actresses, same level of Xhao Lu Si. The character suits her so well ! The male leads are very good too, i discoverd Tan Jian Ci, and he is sooooo good ! I really want him to end with the FL !! I m looking forward the season 2 !

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Absolutely captivating. Totally underrated

This drama is, in my opinion, underrated.

The plot of this particular drama revolves around the mystical world of food and the intricate relationship between cooks and their creations. The way the food was prepared and presented in this show was nothing short of an art form, and it was truly captivating to watch. The maids who worked tirelessly in the kitchen seemed to operate like a well-oiled machine, moving with precision and care to ensure that every dish was perfect. Overall, this show was a feast for the senses and a testament to the power of food in our lives.

I adored both male leads! The Prince's character development was on point, from becoming the Prince to crown prince to the Emperor, he never wavered in his love for her and gave his heart completely. His unwavering love for the female lead, regardless of her actions, was truly admirable. As for the guard, he was enigmatic and ruthless, yet still managed to be highly likable. Despite his cruel nature, he fell in love, and that made him all the more intriguing. However, I must admit that the female lead's character left me conflicted. I failed to understand how she could so easily love to hate someone who never did her any wrong.

I loved this drama, but I was disappointed by the lack of explanation for the main character's sudden change of heart from a woman in love to a hateful woman. The fact that one concubine was forced to hang herself as per the ancestral laws did not justify her extreme behavior towards others. The transition was not clear, and it made it difficult for me to understand and appreciate her character. In my opinion, she appeared like a bitch, and her later change did not make up for it.

Despite enjoying this drama, I must say that the edits were subpar and failed to ensure a smooth-watching experience. At times, the production team neglected to provide proper explanations for certain actions or decisions made by the characters, leading me to search for reasons or justifications on my own. This is unacceptable; I should have been able to comprehend everything from the get-go. While I wouldn't necessarily call it a complete disaster, it did give me pause. There was a major problem with either the scriptwriters or editors, director, or production. Perhaps they made cuts in the wrong places, but regardless, it's a shame.

I found the pace of this drama slow, but it didn't bother me as I thoroughly enjoyed the intricate character development. The absence of physical action allowed the story to delve deep into the lives of the food maids, the harem, the guards, the eunuchs, and the Royal family. I was completely engrossed in the drama and watched it in a single marathon session.

I have to point out that there were several confusing parts in the story due to poor editing, and it bothered me that the female lead never reciprocated the same love shown by the male lead throughout the drama. Although the epilogue was predictable with the villains dying, I was disappointed to miss out on the final embrace, which was only shown as a camera zoom-out. Overall, I found the ending to be average and not entirely satisfying.

Despite any setbacks or disappointments, my desire to watch and fully immerse myself in this drama has never diminished. I find great enjoyment in being swept up in the storylines, characters, and emotions portrayed on screen, and I was always eager to experience the next twist and turn.

I recently watched a few stories that revolved around the inner workings of a palace. This particular genre has always managed to captivate my attention, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them. From the intriguing plot of 'Moon Lovers' to the heartwarming narrative of 'Life Begins Anew,' and the juicy gossip of 'Palace Rumors,' each story had its unique charm and kept me engaged till the end. I do understand that not everyone may share my enthusiasm for this genre, but I relish every bit of it and eagerly await more such stories to indulge in.

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The boys are back! Kind of...

This special feels like someone wrote 50% of a good follow-up to The Eclipse, someone else wrote 50% of a pretty bad The Eclipse fanfiction, and then they stitched it all together, electrocuted it, and produced whatever frankenstein-esque script spawned this show.
Seriously, I feel like I got whiplash from how tonally dissonant so many of the scenes here are. Some of them are genuinely good, enjoyable to watch, and the actors clearly had a lot of fun filming them.
The rest of them are uncomfortable, extremely out of character, and just plain weird. They really did my boy Aye so dirty with this, it's almost offensive.
That being said, if you're willing to stick around despite the bad, there is still a very sweet epilogue to the series to be found here. The final scene especially made me tear up with how lovely it is, so for that alone I'd suggest watching at least once.

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What a incredible drama

Very interesting drama, Amazing chemistry, ML Visuals is so good his arm band I'm obsessed with his body language his acting skill OMG! He nailed it?? storyline of this drama is good but acting level is soo good specially ML acting is incredible His handsomeness give me a goosebumps i really loving and inspiring his character?. And romantic scenes of this drama give me a butterflies in my stomach??. Supporting character of their friends is also Amazing they did a great acting . I also love the character of Lin Muffan he is a nice guy with good visuals. This is the best drama with a romantic and amazing storyline. I recommend this drama plz watch and like this drama☺️??

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Star-crossed lovers with a bad writing :)))

This drama started quite ok. A fantasy-themed drama about reincarnated lovers who didn't recognize each other at first, but there was a catch. One of them was a cupid and they were ill-fated, as they had no red thread of fate connecting them.

The leads had a cute relationship BUT this drama has very faulty writing. the authors need to practice before making a drama. the story was all over the place and the criminal had a way of dealing with everything quite easily. The character development was also pointless for some characters.

ALso, 16 episodes made this drama draggy and filler. i personally watched it for the lead's love and chemistry. They were so good together.

The OST used is very beautiful. also, the scenery and locations shown are very enchanting.

Overall, a very average romantic drama.

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I may be biased, but this show is also objectively excellent

This show holds a very special place in my heart. Is it perfect? No. But it does have an intrinsic understanding of what it means to be a queer teenager in a rigidly hetero-normative environment that I have rarely, if ever, seen in a drama.
Through a combination of beautiful visuals, effective editing, and absolutely stellar performances we are told a tale about suffocating, oppressive "normality" and the strict rules in place to ensure preservation of and adherence to the status quo; a delicate structure which is disrupted by the aberrant yet deeply familiar allure of queerness.
With Suppalo high school, a perfect microcosm of society at large, as its backdrop, the story explores themes of mental illness, identity, freedom, and abuse with incisiveness and care.
The way these struggles for individuality and freedom of expression are depicted may not exactly be subtle, but it is incredibly effective and analyses the complexities of these systems and issues quite thoroughly.

The highlight of the series, however, are doubtless the characters.
There is Akk, who is so terrified of himself and his wants that he fully devotes himself to being a perfect part of the system, but no matter how strictly he enforces rules on himself and others, he just can't kill the part of himself that's different, unruly, queer.
There's Ayan, who has learned to weaponise his "otherness", his queerness to great effect, but who is also genuinely vulnerable and fragile.
Thua, who tries, in vain, to survive through keeping his head down and enduring, and Khan who is endlessly torn between defending his friends and ideals, and distancing himself from them so as avoid any association between himself and queerness.
And of course Wat, Sani, and Chadok, who are all highlights in their own right.
The complicated and slowly-changing relationships between these characters are what drives this drama and what elevates it above many other entries in the genre. From the romance, to the friendship, to the power struggles, I simply cannot overstate how truly excellent it all is.

Of course there are missteps, most notably the depiction of a forced outing late in the show, which is brushed aside with barely any consequences for either its perpetrator or victims.
The plot also becomes somewhat rushed and muddled around episode 11.
All in all though, I personally find the good of the show far outweighs the bad and the ending is so wonderful it balances out most of the previous episodes' mistakes.

In short, this show is more than worth your time. I personally feel quite a deep connection to the story and have a lot of strong opinions on it as a result, but even if you watch it "only" for surface level enjoyment, there is a lot to love about this series.
If you enjoy tender slow-burn romances with flawed but lovable characters, brilliant acting, and just enough charm and humour to balance out the angst, then this show is for you.
If you like queer coming-of-age stories that show how being a teenager is actually pretty damn hard, or even if you're just looking for a fairly decent mystery with lots of gay sleuthing, then this show is also for you.

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A better soundtrack would have helped a lot.

### No Spoiler Review

First. It's good to see a Noona romance not involving a high school student.

The shows potential lies in the women empowerment storylines. I believe this show would have been better sold as a story centered on Jin A, a woman trying to navigate her way through societal expectations. Something more in the tone of My Mister or Misaeng. It falls short of those shows in many ways, but the blueprint is there. The romance should just have been something that happens in Jin A's life, not define it (I want that for so many of romance stories I have seen). I love the relationship between the female characters here, especially Bo Ra and Jin A. Wish we'd have got more of that from the very start, including conversations that didn't center on the male characters.

But first there's the soundtrack. The show has many lingering shots which would provide an opportunity for the soundtrack to stand out, if only it was good. The score is quite good. However, the song choices ruins everything. Not only did they choose poorly composed music, with average melody and terrible lyrics, they had to reuse them multiple times in the show. It's another reason why I think the second half is kind of better, since it has less of that shitty music. Something I realized is that they didn't have a single Korean song. I feel anytime I have watched a show with English songs, it's often terrible. Should they have written better songs for the show, it would have been a lot better.

### Spoilers start here.

Having read some of the reviews on the show early on, I expected a huge dip in quality in the second half of the show. Other than the cliched evil mom, the show narrowing in on the workplace discrimination and sexual harassment plot elevates, if only for a bit. Many who must have picked up the show for the romance will probably end up disappointed. This is where the comparison to My Mister and the likes comes in. There's that hint of realism that you don't find in many shows. It's why I think the mom being against the relationship works for the story (It would have weird to have no one be against it when the first half focuses so much on hiding the relationship). That's not to say it was done well. I still think it went over the top and the lack of self-reflection or at least more insight to the mother's psyche has it teetering on the edge of the absurd. As much as I am praising the second half, I still think it is a worse than the first mostly due to the lack of consistency. The romance becomes repetitive with the couple having issues over the same mistakes. I was expecting a bittersweet ending given societal taboos, but I think the lack of proper communication between the couple ruins everything.

I give the story a 7 since I thought it was good but could have been better, starting with the side characters. We've already talked about the mom, but this applies too to the workplace characters and the rest of Jin A's family. The audience isn't given enough to root for or against them. This is what keeps the show as an average romance story rather than a great slice of life drama. When we think of the good slice of life stories, their success comes from having well developed characters. This show has only hints of it and it is not for a lack of time. The first part has so many slow scenes that could have been cut out to accommodate the other characters and plotlines. But we got the repetitive music instead.

I'd recommend the drama for the friendship between Bo Ra and Jin A but even that is hardly explored to be worth anyone's time.

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What is a family?

Six aspects I loved most:
* No romance! Yes, it feels like a BL at points, but it's not. This is about people who have found a place and people they belong to. If you consider all the families that are shown -- the four Rokuhoudou men, the chef, his daughter and the young man from the Italian lunch place, the brother and his patissier, and all these people who only appeared in one episode but found each other in the café -- none of these are what you think of when you first hear the word "family".
* The locations, the food, and the way both were filmed.
* Although this is a manga / anime adaptation, the producers made things look realistic -- no strange wigs, coloured contact lenses. The acting definitely shows the heritage, but it's not too over-the-top, and doesn't distract from the message at all.
* The intimacy between the four men in the café -- I loved that they don't shy away from expressing their feelings by touches, hugs, etc.
* As a bonus, they managed to include the Covid-pandemic as a plot point to underline the message on how integral their little family is to the Rokuhoudou guys.
* Nothing ever felt rushed in the story telling, it was slow where it should be without letting things drag. After all, this café is all about finding a place to enjoy good food, good drink and good company.

Overall, a lovely story about family, and where to find it, with a lot of tasty food.

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☙〠 IT IS WHAT IT IS...( IT IS WHAT IT IS...) 〠❧

I think the premise plot is really interesting.
For those who have seen Not me the series as me, I thought that they handled very well the edition and passage, from one twin to another; At the very beginning it was clear, somehow in the middle, it got a little confused but still understandable;

I liked ⚡︎TenTuss⚡︎ couple, the one that played Mike and Jack ( volleyball captain),their chemistry was top knot , I'm shocked that they DON'T ENDED UP TOGETHER !!! When nothing made sense they were there for us, delivering ... I enjoyed every moment they got screen time, it's not easy to a side couple BE WANTED THAT BAD,(at least for me)!!!!

Can't pass without mentioning that I loved, how they symbolically brought the puzzle between the siblings, showing their understanding, care, forgiveness and new beginning;

Overall, it was a good show, focusing on their sportive life, what I really appreciated, but I think there's still room for improvement :

With 12 episodes I can't understand how:
The twins, Salmon and First's characters were light and without further development;

⇧ Starting by the twins - Once they switched places and have to live each other lives, I was expecting to see P'Zee making efforts to talk nice with his teammates, and to better himself before starting pursuing Salmon. And HE HAD THE CHANCE TO DO THAT having Thun, Sprite's friend the most sociable and trustworthy person, so HOW COME...

⇧ Then we have P'Sprite, he seemed to be the cool, chill and carefree version of P'Zee. So it was predictable that when the time comes, that he realised that he fell in love, he W-O-U-L-D undoubtedly confess his love AND tell the true about his identity because he is the twin that "ruins everything", according to P'Zee's optic.
How-e-ver, he's unable to tell P'First the truth from the 7th episode that he realised his feelings, so that means that he passed half of the show without telling the truth; I just think that his actions doesn't match with the image they transmitted on viewer's spirit, and he had another opportunity on 9th episode, at the mall , but it was clear for me that he wasn't bothered by being called by someone else's name(☀︎)... In brief, he doesn't even put an effort even to say a metaphor, or potential clues;
And despite the fact, that I liked Sprite's character the most,=(I swear to you guys that I liked his character the most)=, with all his flaws, I think that he needed to suffer more, because he sustained a big lie, he was easily forgiven ,but with one episode left what was I really expecting ?

⇧ Salmon...(uhhh), she seemed to have a crush on P'Sprite, maybe that started because of their identical physical appearance but then, when she got to know him, she liked how approachable he(P'Sprite), made people be around him, although she gave me the impression of being a little selfish. I hoped that the friendship that grew up between Sprite and her, would have some impact on the story, but she acted as an outsider;

⇧ And P'First... he had multiple chances to investigate "P'Zee", especially at the start when he don't knew his intentions; why he didn't follow "P'Zee" around when he sneaked out the dormitory, to know what he was doing ??? When "P'Zee" was talking on the phone why he doesn't gather more informations and was hot-tempered ?? At the mall, he saw his partner's reaction plus the warm/cold treatment he received ; From one side or another I hoped that the truth was find sooner;But do I really care about these details ? N-OOOO,I still enjoyed the show though ♥︎♡

✬At the end, no matter how many options I had on mind... ☙IT IS WHAT IT IS ❧

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Raging comedic banter, battle and romance. I highly recommend!

Cho Yeo Hwa (Lee Ha Nee), lives as a dutiful widow by day and by night she's running across rooftops fighting criminals for the poor secretly. One night, she got into a chaotic fight, she landed in the arms of a palace guard, Park Soo Ho (Lee Jong-won). Unbeknownst to both, there’s a secret in the past left to be unfold. As Yeo Hwa continues living her lifestyle, Soo Ho keeps running into her, wanting to know who she really is… will she be able to keep her disguise?

This drama is consistently entertaining! While I expected the show to be as fun as it was, I didn’t expect to be immediately connected with our characters and their motivations. I love Yeo Hwa, her mother-in-law and her quirky friend, too. That she's widowed due to a tragic past, controlled by her mother-in-law and almost 100% locked inside her house, it all sounds depressing, but the storytelling is so so fresh. Also it's interesting to see like how our male lead, Soo Ho with his role to serve justice but he's bind by a lot of rules, while he sees this mysterious person just do it each night.

The intro and the epilogue scenes are A+! Each episode is meaningful with steady pacing. Interesting twists happened here and there. There's a whole lot of wuxia-style fight scenes; flying to the roof, hitting people by acorns, and I enjoyed a lot. The action scenes are funny, also the little gestures, sound effect, visual effect, they're all worked together perfectly. The romance is fun, low-stake, and heart-fluttering! Every romantic scene counts. Not much complicated intrigue until the last few episodes, where it was resolved but falters flat. Though so, the whole experience of my watching is truly entertaining!

-Feb 2024, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge

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SPEED

this drama neeeeeeeeeeeds SOME SPEEEEEED.

LIKE QING GET WITH JING CHU

FORGET ABOUT YUN

Plsssssss

No one talking about that age gap tho fl=30yrs ml=24?




















Why does it have to be 500 words long like....

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Wobbly start, stunning finish

After watching Season One yesterday, we watched Season 2 today. The first couple of episodes were a bit meandering, lacking the tightness of Season 1. The final two episodes were very powerful, and for most of the final episode I was fighting back tears. Kawahara Eito delivered stunning lead performances across both series, but the final episode took his character to new emotional depths and he rose to the challenge magnificently. The first season had the edge in cohesion, and was much lighter viewing overall, but the emotional punch of the final 2 episodes of this series redeemed its wobbly start.

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PLEASING AND BEAUTIFUL

A slow constant pace romantic story.
About the main lead they really are beautiful and they really grow much specially the male lead. The main lead story is quite constant ig. Not very fluctuate much the father is the only cause of trouble. The moments are good also.
But for me the stellar show is the supporting male and female lead. Their story is more greatly written than the mains. Their chemistry is more eye catching to see. The way they develop their feeling there scenes are really eye pleasing to see. Their unfortunate Breakup and their again reunion is loved to see. Somewhere This overshadowed the main story, Somewhere I looked forward their story then the main lead. They somewhere Show their emotions than the mains which makes their story more beautiful. Just only one thing that the ending can be somewhere more pleasing In the supporting characters point of view.
One thing I really disappointed with they story is that they make many plots or side story but they did not explore at all.
• Supporting FL illness, they make unnecessarily (I think) or goes untouched because that does not go to the later plot makes the thing a bug for the viewers because their story is more beautiful to see.
• From my thinking the Supporting female leads brother can be more engaged in the story like they can show more screen time with other characters and more interaction.
• The sister of the main lead is also can be more explored because she played an important part here.
Other than that, the overall story is very top notch and mature the music and production is also great.

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