Reviews

Nearly Perfect Drama, Reaffirming the message "Life is a Gift. Don't Take it for Granted"

Death's Game on face-value may seem like a thrilling survival game between the human & the supernatural but is in fact a humbling take to address the rising suicide rates, especially among the youth and the impact it has on everyone. It is not an easy topic to address, therefore I must praise & thank everyone involved in this show for their brilliant writing, direction & acting to depict this difficult message. I have not read the webtoon hence my anticipation was exceedingly high with this drama given the premise & talented cast it signed on (The latter delivering more than what they promised). The drama is brilliant start to 2024, my only minor complaint remains with the ending episodes which makes is "Nearly Perfect"

❤️ The drama is literally flawless 10/10 for PART 1 & till Ep 6 and half in PART 2:
With its gripping narrative as we see how the ML tries make the best of each new life he is given, banter with Death and tries to beat the game. It slowly takes the shape of a revenge plot, as the ML realizes all these different lives are in fact connected to a single antagonist, who also had an impact to his life & those who he holds dear.

✘ Issue 1:The revenge plan that takes up half of Ep 6-7:
The conclusion is satisfactory cause it is another good vs evil battle. But the execution of it seems over-the-top heroics, illogical explanations & just too basic especially for a plot that had build up the expectation for a grand conclusion, to fall flat at the most important moment.

❤️ Ep 8: Mixed Feels, Predictable & Confusing Ending:
The last life might have been done as a shock-factor, but by now we can see it coming. It is still powerful in driving across the messages of - how our actions in life & death impacts others, how time is never enough to express your love to those you care about, how some people even in the face of adversity keep trying harder while others give in. Again - this is a grey area, but the drama delivers it with a heart so kudos!

✘ Issue 2: The Last Scene
We are at the finale - hoping that the ML finds redemption & has a happy ending. But the way it is executed feels very rushed, with no preamble whatsoever and basically goes against Death's initial words/rules? I know that this drama addresses a social problem, but the ending left me crushed/puzzled than feeling good. Guess I will read the webtoon in case there is an alternative ending, but the drama ending had a meh effect for me.

❤️Overall: 9/10 (Part 1 is 10/10, Part 2 is 8/10)
Personally it is one of the genres that I enjoy along with a cast that I love. The BGM score is too addictive & I hope to discover it soon in a music app. The stories individually are a mystery & when tied together overall and with the ML's life it just takes it to another level. Wish the issues that I had were not there, and it would have been simply flawless. But even that, it is one of the best dramas I have seen for 2023/2024.

If not the whole series, I will definitely rewatch the episodes/scenes where the characters gets their way through wits or action, making you pump your own fist in the air for their wins!

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Impressive level of blandness.

There isn’t anything wrong with the drama, but there is nothing truly right? No highs, no lows, nothing to truly grab my attention. Such a smooth flight, one might actually fall asleep.

I loved the idea behind the drama - seeing different professions that are related to airports. Usually we see the “glamorous lives” of flight attendants and pilots, but here we saw a greeted variety of jobs. So how come it did not work out?

I think the biggest issue was how all the issues and conflicts got resolved within five minutes of screen time. There was no suspense, no stakes. What’s more, while I understand they wanted to stay true to reality, sometimes cutting short the realistic depiction of procedures is not a bad thing - at the end of the day I am watching a drama, not a manual.

I did like all the characters, but I also disliked how most of them did not need any character development. They were smart, great, kind, and the “bad traits” were simply miscommunication. Nothing to work on. And because of that Kawahara Kasumi became my favorite character - she was the most dynamic in writing - both in external presentation and internal growth.

The production was fine. As most things in the drama. But fine is such a mid level of entertainment.

One thing to appreciate was for sure the acting. The whole cast did an amazing job.

Overall, I will probably forget this drama exists in a month.

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Writer with dementia or indecisiveness?

Have to be last resort to finish this drama. Storyline has 2 arcs with no continuity. Song arc had an interesting beginning but finished with a vague ending. The FL has twin characters as a cold princess dies replaced by assassin twin who is not as cold blooded but actually has compassion. In the Wei arc, FL becomes a weak childlike princess. The ML is a superb martial artist with high intelligence who was robbed of his memories that ended the Song arc. In the Wei arc, he plays a scumbag who seduced two women for their worth to his ambition. At the beginning he promises to marry one by proclaiming to her father that he would rather live an ordinary life with her than lose her to political power; but later in the story out of nowhere, the two suddenly had a mutual agreement that the marriage was contractual and she broke it by falling in love with him (probably to make the ML less of a scumbag.) If that is so, scumbag consummated the contractual marriage by getting her pregnant. With other character discrepancies, it was difficult to convince myself to finish the story pretending it's two different dramas rather than one bad drama with 2 arcs and making excuses for some of the blind spots. The cast consists of many actors who now famous celebrities. This is what kept me going to episode 34. Most reviews are spot on so I am a bit wary about the ending and wonder if I want to go through the rest of the 20 or so episodes for another vague ending. Most likely not, so I marked it as dropped.

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Short yet efficient !

Short yet incredibly lovely cute. Also the themes that got discussed eventho they were serious they managed to make it in a very understanding manner. I've learned many things ffrom this series : Love yourself as you are etc...

All the characters were correctly indepthed eventho the episodes length was quite short. At first I absolutely hated Yu-mi then I got to start liking her. Min-jae is the character I hate and will continue to. I don't know even afterwards he seemed fake and off to FL.

The other characters are just chief kiss.

The OST were on point and just purely lovely. The cast is very good. Btw the actor playing seon-ho REALLY looks like Eun-woo especially when he smiles ??.

For those who want to check it out it's on Youtube !

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Truly stands out from the rest!

What caught my attention is the trauma cleaning job. At 1st, I thought it's a "made-up" job, only to find out it's real. That fascinates me even more

Thanks to this show, I get to learn about such a profound and meaningful job that's often overlooked. In this show, the trauma cleaners really did amazing job in uncovering the story of the deceased, and making sure any messages are passed on to loved ones.

What makes this show even more interesting is that the ML also happen to have Asperger, hence opening up a new dimension of learning for us to understand more about people with Asperger, how they behave and why they act a certain way.

Combination of Asperger + Trauma Cleaning makes thsi show stand out.

I cried so much in this show that I feel it helped me process and heal the grief that I had myself.

This is one of the best show Lee Jee Hoon is in as well. His character adds more flavor and excitement to this show too.

Overall, this has great storyline, execution, messages, lessons and acting! Highly recommended

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Not all lives are equal

As you can guess, the seven times were in seven lives, although there was a double counting. In one of the lives, they retained their memories and knew each other. Still, you watched seven stories, each different. And all the stories were interesting.

Xiang Yun was a cloud which became a fairy with the help of the Marriage Pavillion Master. She was tasked to find a marriage partner for the God of War Chu Kong, but instead she was chosen to become his partner for tribulation, against her will.

The God of War had his primordial spirit damaged as he fought the demonic Cang Hai 30,000 years ago. A heavenly prophesy said that Cang Hai was going to be resurrected soon. It was therefore dire that the God of War repaired his spirit asap to fight the powerful demon monarch. The only way for him to repair it was to reincarnate several times in tribulation. Each tribulation would be successful if the partner would sacrifice herself for him in the reincarnation.

What I like about this drama?

1. Each life was an interesting story. The first reincarnation was funny and three were tragedies. So you would experience a range of diverse emotions.

2. Overall, the drama scored well on the hygiene factors. The cast performed well. The costumes were lovely and the CGI was beautiful. The music was pretty good too.

3. Ding Yu Xi looked his best as the cat demon with his heavy fur coat. But period drama hairdos did not suit him and he did not look good in them. While as the cat demon, his hairdo suited him best.

What I do not like about this drama?

1. The theme of loving someone over a several lifetimes has become quite cliche beginning with Ten Mile of Peach Blossom (3 lifetimes), Love and Redemption (10 lifetimes), Love and Destiny (over 2 lifetimes) and more if I care to check out.

2. The chemistry between the male and female leads was a little lacklustre. So it did not quite bring out the romantic feeling.

3. While all the stories in this drama were interesting, the story when their fate began was a yawn as the drama dwelled on a lot of trivials. The director was trying to create these lovey-dovey moments when their romance began and their lives became intertwined into the future. But it ended up becoming quite boring. Somehow the two leads did not have the chemistry to pull this off .

Overall, this drama is entertaining and worth watching. However, I won't rate it among the highest league.

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a wuxia drama that EVERYONE HAS TO WATCH

You know that feeling after completing a show and one of your first thoughts are "Wow, it'll take a long time to find a drama like this again."? This was what I felt after watching MLC.

As someone who loves whodunit shows, I liked how they incorporated about 8-10 different mysteries in these 39 episodes while linking all of them for the overall story. The chemistry between the 3 male leads were also great and their personalities were all so extremely different but ironically complemented each other well. The pacing of the story was also to my liking. I can't exactly point out how and why, but it reminded me of the drama "the Untamed" - the vibes at least. The story continuously moves, so there's no filler episodes and the drama had me SEATED. I think what made me rate this drama a 10 instead of a 9.5 was the final plot twists in the last few episodes which had me gasping.

Overall, this drama is easy to watch and very suitable for wuxia and bromance shows lovers to watch!
p.s. the women in this drama are all SOOOO GORGEOUS

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Cherish the ONE life you got

Damn, this drama was so good. It held me on the edge of my seat constantly, and it delivered. The ending was just a chef's kiss. Everyone should give it a watch and understand how much their absence will affect others. The acting was great, and so many actors made it a masterpiece. As Ah in Jeong said, every good story has a lot of twists, and so does Death Game. 8 episodes, and every episode is a masterpiece in itself. I am probably praising it a lot because of recency bias but I recommend this to every human. Just stay quiet and watch this masterpiece without any second thought.

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THIS DRAMA IS COPIED FROM LADY VENGEANCE

SEXUAL HARRASMENT OF FL IN LAST EPISODE
It wasn't on Script
HAN SO HEE wasn't even informed but director assume that she would do it because she is that kind of woman FOR them, because she has done proactive roles.
Director and ML just wanted to see her topless that's all.

Giho takes forever to die and did not die even after that many stabs, i find this 5ft guy more stonger then THE UNDERTAKER of WWE

ML has selective hearing ability during the fight with rapist guy he only hear whatever favours FL and miss everything that reveals her identity why because he wanted to screw her in the end...

ML Was introduced as asshole who look down on women but suddenly there is his dead sister
He was acting like he was born out of a man's anus
But because he is ML we need to ignore him looking down on FL
FL Is good fighter when it come to fight anyone but she is weak and lose everytime she confront ML why because director wanted to protect MLs cheap Pride that he can't be defeated by a woman he look down on.

MDL high rating Is ? shit
FL why she is taking revenge for a father who never tell her his own name ?
A man who make her live like a criminal her whole life and Destroyed her youth, she spent her another 5 year between criminal to take revenge for that guy ?
It was story of FL but director can't resist himself from sucking to ML

Nobody feel a shit when he got a hole in his head

Why rapist guy left FL to die with ML
I would have kept her with me to rape anytime i want or shoot her in head, if i am that pscho.
Why he don't rape her after he catch her because ML wasn't ready to protect her that time so villian did not thought of raping her... How good is bad guy

Mujin could have shoot both of them but he choose to shoot only ML because dude is poor to afford another bullet, he wanted to provoke FL for final fight which he wasn't able to fight because all he wanted was to die

I give it 6.5 because it was good when you watch it for first time you will believe everything the told you but if you rewatch it then half of things would look NONsense

Mujin Was framed for a murder that was done by FL and nobody no soul objected like whole police department was ON IT.
FL wasn't even question after murder why she shoot ?
It like there is nobody above GOD GIHO(ultimate Ninja)

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No teenage boys with lids up to their eyes or yaoi flip flops screaming in admiration. This is a short series for adults, from life, and it is well done, at least for me. Bisexuality, bisexual behavior and related problems. I really, really liked the series because it touches so many of us. Specifically me for sure. Excellent acting, especially Tod played it so convincingly, I believed every word he said and his character clearly proved that not all gays, bisexuals, have to be outright twisted or immediately recognizable. The other two characters also played it flawlessly. How 35-year-old Tony at the time (he played the character of Meng) and I was amazed how great he looked in the first part in the "studio" days, you don't know at all that he is already "so" old and the corpse Nuch, played excellently by Thai Bebe, is also no more sapling, and in some scenes it not only cut her off immensely (see e.g. the wedding and others). The director is really a fighter, everything we have from him here at gaytitulky.info is highly rated (Club Friday 5, Club Friday 12, Tonhon Chonlatee)


Žádní náctiletí kloučci s poklicemi afin až do očí či obdivem ječící yaoi žabky. Toto je krátký seriál pro dospěláky, ze života a je skvěle udělaný, alespoň pro mě. Bisexualita, bisexuální chování a problémy s tím spojené. Seriál se mi moc a moc líbil, protože se dotýká mnohých z nás. Konkrétně mě určitě. Výborné herecké výkony, především Tod to zahrál tak přesvědčivě, věřil jsem mu každé slovo a jeho postava jasně dokázala, že ne všichni gayové, bisexuálové, musí být vyloženě vykroucení nebo aby to na nich bylo hned poznat. I další dvě postavy to zahrály bezvadně. Jak tehdy pětatřicetiletý Tony (hrál postavu Menga) a byl jsem v úžasu, jak skvěle vypadal v prvním díle v dobách "studií", vůbec nepoznáte, že už má "tolik" let a mrška Nuch, kterou zahrála výborně Thajka Bebe, také už žádná mladice a v některých scénách to nejen jí nesmírně seklo (viz např. svatba a další). Režisér je opravdu borec, co tady na GT od něj máme, je vše výborně hodnocené (Club Friday 5, Club Friday 12, Tonhon Chonlatee)

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A decent watch but not my type of genre

The story deals with our leads’ personal problems within the paradigm of social norm. The ‘conflict’ of this show surprised me as I had no idea that getting a divorce or dating someone with a child is such a taboo in Korean culture as it's not negative in my reality...  

What I like most are the authentic cinematography and the well-written dialogues among the characters. The romance is very calm, lovely and honest. Despite the lack of spicy passion, Jung Hae In and Han Ji Min create a harmonious and good chemistry. I also enjoyed the bond and communication among the three sisters; Their arcs feel organic. The ending is done in a proper way.

Confession, there are times that I got so bored due to how slow and mellow this story is. I also struggled to finish it because "No Direction" plays on repeat. The OST is good but extremely overused that it gets tiresome. I would appreciate a little more variety or less repetition.

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

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Felt the angst and longing through the screen

The show really had me at the first half when we went through the school lives with the leads where scenes were heartwarming and cheerful. As someone who doesn't really enjoy an entire high school series, I was ready to drop it... until the second half came and they focussed on the time-travelling aspect. The second-half episodes were all very tear jerking and I shed tears EVERY SINGLE EPISODE for the last 8 eps. I truly felt the longing that both leads felt for each other that it makes my heart ache. Overall, I felt that the first half of the drama was a typical school drama with a few aspects of mystery as it slowly unfolds the truth behind zhang wansen's accident. The second-half felt more emotional, similar to what "Someday or One Day" felt to me but slightly more toned down.

- Story: Pace was great and it helps that there's only 24 30mins-45mins episodes. I also liked how smoothly they transition between the present and future. Every single episode had its purpose and there were no filler episodes in my opinion.
- Acting: The leads' chemistry was great but felt that the second lead couple didn't have chemistry and had slightly awkward acting but it didn't bother me that much since I usually skip their scenes LOL
- Music: 10/10 for me! The music fits the scenes very well and the meaning of the songs are also very accurate to the scenes. Super touching.

Recommended if you are looking for a light-hearted but emotional drama (ironic but it's really a mixture of both as explained above HAHHA)

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Rex Lantano probably has connections as a businessman and YouTuber, otherwise I can't explain why they cast him in leading roles. In addition to his youthful appearance, he has a flabby body with a tire and a head like a watermelon. I originally thought that I would not give this mini-project even thanks to Arnold Reyes in the role of Rich, because as a heterosexual, I didn't trust him at first when they made him a hottie with a pink shirt and a bathrobe. But then it dawned on me, when I was already reflecting after watching the series, that everything was lighthearted and presented with Filipino nobility and just like, and in the end, an above-average comic Pinoy project came out of it. When son Greg (Anthoy Flores) took the stage, I thought I was going to pee myself with excitement at how likable he was and the whole thing ended up earning me a 8

Rex Lantano má asi jako podnikatel a youtuber styky, jinak si nedovedu vysvětlit, proč jej obsazují do hlavních rolí. Kromě mladistvého vzhledu má povadlé tělíčko s pneumatičkou a hlavičku jak meloun. Původně jsem myslel, že i zásluhou Arnolda Reyese v roli fotříka Riche tento miniprojekt nedám, neboť jako heterákovi jsem mu zezačátku nevěřil ani nos mezi očima, když z něj udělali teplouška s růžovou košilkou a župánkem. Ale pak mi to došlo, když jsem už přemítal po zhlédnutí nad seriálem, že vše bylo nadlehčené a podané s filipínskou noblesou a jen jako a nakonec se mi z toho vyloupl nadprůměrný komický pinoy projekt. Když nastoupil na plac syn Greg (Anthoy Flores), myslel jsem, že se počůrám vzrušením, jak mi byl sympatický a celé mi to nakonec vyneslo známku 8

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