Reviews

Fresh and Funny in its own way!

I will forever thank you to this dorama for giving me a lot of Ryuhei Matsuda content that I've never seen before. I got his fallin' in love face, being sulky, and being cute for his 'Yaho!'.
Despite of me being a fan of Ryuhei Matsuda, I really enjoy the ride and actually laugh a lot! The story is kinda reverse-harem and non-usual, but it is written in a very relaxing, witty and funny way. Each character have their own uniqueness and the casts play it splendidly. Love the strong characterisation of Omameda Towako, the independent woman at her 40s, a single Mom, and capable to decide what she wants in life by herself. The directing approach is also very fresh and has kinda cool vibe. Love it!

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I just don’t get why I’ve read so many bad reviews…

So I started this because I’ve seen pictures of Mike and I found him so handsome I wondered what he was worth as an actor… I picked this drama amongst many others but I had read many bad reviews so I didn’t expect much…
AND I JUST LOVED IT !! So much that I made a cd of it to watch it on my TV and I often spent night re-watching it for relax
I loved this for many reasons.
This story is very Cinderella-like. Norah is terribly mistreated by the one she believes to be her father, her stepsister (whom she believes to be her half-sister) and her stepfather’s mistress (who can then be considered as her stepmother). However, that doesn’t mean Norah is weak. She has no problem in hitting back her stepsister. She can perfectly defend herself, whether facing evil girls, evil men or the male lead, whether using her words or her hands. Moreover, Bow is very graceful and beautiful in this part and you just love her as this Cinderella. Of course, despite her strength, she sometimes really suffers injustice, especially coming from the one she believes her father. Many people called her stupid but I actually understand her : after all, she believed he was her father for 18 years and only wanted his love, suffering to see such a different treatment between her and her stepsister, even though, she eventually understands she can't wait anything from him, much before learning he's not her father. I also really admired Norah’s relationship with her mother : all along the drama, Norah is pushed to great lengths to help her mom but does it without hesitation (even selling herself to Kanchit, not knowing he’s willing to lend her money without asking anything in return). All along, both mother and daughter support each other through their trials and they get their strength from each other
I also really liked the male lead, Kanchit, played by Mike Pattaradet. Kanchit only met shallow and materialistic women in his life, and only suffered hurt from them, which made him quite pessimistic. So when he meets Norah, he appears to her like a rogue, a player, someone who sees women as toys. But Kanchit almost immediately falls for Norah, not just for her beauty, but for her fierceness. He first encourages her into thinking he’s a man who buys women to test whether she would give in to his money. Seeing how she slaps his money into his face, he’s only more and more charmed. I just loved seeing him falling more and more for Norah, even laughing when she would slap him or his mistress. Mike is awesome playing a man in love : the simple look on his eyes is full of love and fascination when he looks at Norah and I think an actor who can act with his eyes is very precious. I didn’t mind his player ways : first, he was being honest about being a player and never lied to his mistresses about the fact that they shouldn’t expect anything from him, neither love nor marriage, only sex and money ; but more importantly, it was actually cute to see how differently he would treat his past mistresses and Norah, making it obvious that for him, Norah was not just a new conquest but the one he wanted to marry as a wife and spend his life with, and that what he didn’t just want to win over her bit but that getting her heart was truly his most sincere wish
so the main couple is one of the reasons why I love this drama. The actors are awesome, they had a great chemistry and their relationship was so beautiful : at some point, Norah could only change her views about Kanchit as he proved his love, his loyalty and his devotion to her when she was thought to be disfigured due to some event. While everyone pitied, mocked or run away from her, Kanchit silently stayed at her side, and did everything to help her, even when he thought she had lost her beauty. This was just so beautiful and it felt great to see Norah finally realizing Kanchit’s true value and sincere feelings. And this is only a peak of the iceberg : Kanchit had actually done even more for her, secretly hiring a lawyer for Norah’s mother when she was in jail, investigating Norah’s background to help her escape her step-family’s cruelty and even lending her money when her mom was kidnapped). The light slap-and-kiss aspect made it spicy, Kanchit’s love for her was so touching, their chemistry was great and seeing him teasing her only gave butterflies in my belly
There were also plenty of twists and new events through the drama. What I loved most is that no even was left hazardly. Whenever the villains would plot in any way against Norah and her mother, their actions would soon or later, in one way or another. EVERY ACTION. So in my opinion, the script was greatly written.
I also LOVED seeing karma hit the villains : you can see them slowly but surely falling into a hell they created by themselves with their misdeeds. Norah’s stepfather, his mistress and his daughter all deeply suffer the consequences of their actions : for example, when Prung (the aunt/adopted mother of Kaengkae, Norah’s stepsister) tries to have Norah raped, this results in Kaengkae being raped (GOD, it felt good). This is the beginning of their punishment and their living hell (this also felt good as Kaengkae’s father was himself a rapist : now, he must see his beloved daughter suffering of what he’s done himself to other women)
So seeing them receiving their karma feels GREAT and this is written beautifully (we’re even allowed to see Norah slapping Kaengkae without being slapped by her father, this one even understanding). Not only they receive their sufferings but they slowly plunge into hell, even making themselves suffer only more by fighting between themselves while getting the rage to see Norah and her mother’s life getting better despite them trying to hurt the both of them ; and we even got the most unexpected slaps that felt incredibly good.
Some of the characters that first opposed Norah even repented (too late or not, that would depend of the character) : Norah’s stepdad is the best example as he would slowly understand, from the moment his daughter was raped, that his past actions are coming to him, something that also applies to his mistress and daughter ; he also understands that he made his daughter an awful by spoiling her and teaching her cruelty and that what she’s enduring (seeing Kanchit, the man she loves, preferring Norah) is her fault ; and finally, he gets that Norah and her mom are getting good things because they did good.
So, the karma is written with some beautiful symmetry, that made sure that every action would come back to the character. This symmetric system was also used for opposing various characters : I even observed that with Kanchit’s rival, Songpope : when Kanchit first appears like a rogue, Songpope seems like a sweet and nice guy ; when Norah hates Kanchit, she kinda likes Songpope ; and when she gets disfigured, Songpope is revealed to be a shallow and selfish young man who gives up Norah, actually liking only her beauty while Kanchit is actually the one who truly loves Norah ; and when Songpope tries to go back to Norah because she actually didn’t lose her beauty, she starts despising him, while getting closer and closer to Kanchit ; and when Norah and Songpope are about to get engaged (for some stupid reason) because Songpope wants to get revenge on her and Kanchit by breaking them up and then dumping her to humiliate her, he actually is the one who gets dumped just before the engagement by Norah who runs to Kanchit. Karma again. Beautiful.
I also liked that EVERY character had a use to the story and that all of them were very different.

So as usual, I wrote a completely messy too long review.
All to say, I don’t get why many people didn’t like this : talented actors, beautiful love story, an intrigue full of twists and turns, a beautiful karma.
The only real flaw is that the main couple didn’t get enough love scenes together. Also, at some point, you get sick of the misunderstandings between them (you just want to scream at them « OH GOD, GET MARRIED/TOGETHER FOR GOOD, FOR GOD’S SAKE ! ») and I think the writer should have made this a bit shorter.

Also now, I’m really depressed that Bow joined Channel 3 because it means she won’t pair up with Mike again ?

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The first C-drama for me that I'm sad it's over

My first initial reaction when I saw this drama, "oh it's just another school drama where they eventually figure out their lives and go to college". I mean it's not wrong. It does follow this format but when you watch it, there's just something special about this drama compared to other high school dramas. To think I almost skip this one but seeing the clips of this drama, I was convinced and gave a try and I don't regret it.

Now the FL's character, Ding Xian is what I like to call a weak character in the beginning. She is shy but also a pushover, as she's afraid to speak her mind. You see why once you meet her mom. Ding Xian's mom is very irritating as it seems she wants to control her daughter on all of her decisions and that she only cares about her studies. We also see some of the mom's favoritism to Ding Xian's annoying little brother. All of these will lead to many not liking Ding Xian's mom. Do they both see character growth? Yes and thankfully it occurs early enough where you can watch this drama without problems later on.

The romance is cute and sweet for our lead couple. It's a steady buildup of their relationship. Though they weren't official until later on, you can tell as you progress each episode that they slowly start to have feelings for each other. I just love the amount of support the Si Yue had for Ding Xian because this is what she needed in order to grow. Also there's great friendship in this drama as well.

The music is just amazing and on point. For me, it's another highlight for this drama.

Downsides to this drama? Well their college years seemed lacking compared to the high school scenes. Like you may not even know they were in college if they didn't specify it in their lines. Friend #3 for Si Yue's friend and Ding Xian's friend lacked screen time. They are our third couple but their chemistry is a bit lacking because of the limited screen time for them. The last maybe 3 to 4 episodes seemed just out there. It's not bad but it just didn't flow as well for me compared to the other episodes.

But overall, this will still be considered one of my favorite C-dramas that I wouldn't mind rewatching.

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It may not deliver what it promised, but it’s still good.

Although it’s set in a high school, I appreciate the unique twist.

The positive: I love that the script tackled some very important issues in a mature way. It also has a great cast in which the actors did an excellent job portraying their characters. The cinematography was visually stunning and I loved the visual references of the moon used throughout the series.

The negative: Unfortunately, the main problem was the inconsistent pacing. It starts off very strong but loses momentum towards the end. There are also some aspects of the script that’s not fully developed.

The in-between: I thought the ending was great and uplifting. However, there is one aspect/story element towards the end that threw the pacing off. It didn’t have a smooth transition when the story element was introduced.

Random Note: As always, I love seeing familiar locations used from different series. Ayan’s house was used in too many series for me to list now. As for the café, it was used in Baker Boy’s and Enchanté.

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Light & Cute

Wow this drama was really sweet and cute and light.

I really enjoyed this drama and there were all cute moments and the acting was amazing and akoi was so entertaining and funny that made yhe drama even more enjoyable.

I loved everything about this japanese drama it was one of first japanese drama that really interested me and was fun to watch.

Totally worth a rewatch, akoi facial expressions were cute and funny, and hashimoto was not so bad either. I loved the characters in this drama they were well suited and sweet together.

Overall a 100% worth watching, gonna do a rewatch.

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Very good, stops short of great

There is lot to recommend this series - foremost the acting, which is uniformly excellent. I'm not sure I've ever seen couples behave more realistically and without reserve - you really felt like these were people with feelings for each other. The physical affection in this is natural and convincing, with lovers sleeping cuddled up and not wearing enough clothing to survive arctic exposure with a minimum of one meter between them at all times like is typical in BL.

There's clearly a lot of passion that went into this production, from direction, to wardrobe, to all aspects of the production, and it makes a huge difference.

The dialog is better than normal, and most of the characterization is steady and consistent.

There are a few issues, however. This is a classic enemies-to-lovers story, and it's at its best - as usual - in the enemies portion, with an interesting and fairly equal dynamic that's unusual and entertaining, with the enigmatic and non-maliciously manipulative Zherui showing up in bizarre and unexpected ways, and the frustrated and grumpy Zong Yi trying to get rid of him while missing him when he's gone. There is no particular seme-uke dynamic at first, which is refreshing, and when they do fall into those roles it's in an unexpected way.

The secondary couple is more clearly seme-uke, but the uke is not useless and without agency. He's crazy and mercurial, and would benefit from a steady-handed partner, but I liked that he's to be reckoned with, not a helpless damsel.

There are, however, a few issues which prevent this from reachingthe top tier. One is the convoluted plot with many holes in it and contrived relationships and coincidences, greatly exacerbated by numerous very large time jumps which plaster over organic resolution of dramatic tension, i.e. the important things tend to happen off-screen.

There is also a silly cliffhanger at the end of every episode and in the middle of them as well. For example. a character is shot, but it turns out with a rubber bullet as part of a life lesson someone was trying to teach which was totally ridiculous. Someone is stabbed, and in the next scene his friends are standing at a bridge with white flowers. To give to him because it was only a flesh wound (to the intestines) - never mind that white flowers are for the dead, and that was just cheap misdirection for 10 seconds of angst. The cliffhangers required a lot of time to be burned on backtracking to fill us in on what happened, and made it very difficult to follow the series if you watched it weekly - so I would recommend binge-watching. As it was, I usually had to review the previous episode because the beginning of each episode is unconnected to the end of the last.

Finally, the dynamic between the main pair descends into stereotypical BL roles, with the formerly grumpy and irritated Zong Yi transmogrifying into a sweet romantic lead, which is frankly boring and inconsistent with the character as originally drawn. He was bound to soften a bit, but he didn't need to become a different person. Clearly the writer wanted lovey-dovey interaction, but it could have been done with some of the edge left in. Due to what happens along the way, he suffers from a short-term memory problem - for about 5 minutes after a huge time jump, then it more or less goes away and has no further impact on anything.

There is a fake memory loss plot that is resolved so quickly that it's pointless and probably should have been left out. The story arc of the mafia boss was very well-acted, but had so little impact that it essentially wasted time. Too much was attempted for the run-time available, when it would have been better to just cut out elements that weren't necessary to the story.

Would I recommend this series? Definitely. Despite the criticisms above, it has so much going for it that the problems are overbalanced by it's good qualities, not least of which the unbelievable attractiveness of the cast - they are all smokin', and even better are all talented and skilled actors.

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It started out great. You had Sam Soon, a strong and funny lead, paired up with realistic yet funny events that made an enjoyable watch. But by the middle of the show... eh...
My main concern with this was the main couple.
Many may not agree with me, but I felt the romance was empty, annoying, and from Jin Hun's side, quite wavering.
Ugh... don't let me get started on Jin Hun. I can normally put up with controlling male leads, but not when they hit girls at one point and, to top it all off, are male versions of Bella Swan. The second half of the drama basically revolved around him bouncing back and forth between Heejin and Sam Soon (which took a toll on Sam Soon's personality, making her clingy).
I wanted to give this a 7, but there were other aspects in the drama that raised my initial score, such as Sam Soon's side stories, her sister, etc. Plus, the first half of the drama deserved a 9, so I chose something in between.
Putting aside the flaws, this drama stands out from the rest, and I get why many consider it a classic. If you're into mature comedies, and don't mind male Bella Swans, then I recommend it.

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Oh the comedy! I laughed so much while watching this, a total crack drama starting from the very beginning. There is not much romance bur even more comedy and action. Eric and million funny situations, he is good with those.

The plot is very simple: take a looser guy throw in a few misunderstandings and he somehow becomes a special agent, everyone thinks he is genius but it's all just a misunderstanding. The basic elements are very similar to Super Rookie and it's hard to say which drama was better. The main female character in this drama was better at least!

There are slow moments but overall the episodes pass swiftly and I rarely found myself bored, towards the end there is a bit angsting but all the comedy makes up for the boring moments.

If you want to watch an Eric Mun drama I suggest this (or Super Rookie), forget about crappy Myung Wol The Spy.

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It makes you wonder "what the hell?" in every single episode

I had good expectations when I started this, mainly because I am a fan of MinKi's works.
However, not even him or a miracle could save this train wreck that is called Oh! My Ladylord.

The screenwriter did a messy plot here, on which I believe most episodes seem to be fillers, with too many unnecessary character plots, annoying side characters, and an on and off love triangle that seriously puts off anyone who watches this, and myself included.
I am probably a masochist for pulling this through 'till the very end, no one can ever compensate the loss of braincells from this.

Seriously, the plot is messy and has too many dragged fillers, like BiSoo's mother and her WAY too many symbolic moments.
I believe if the purpose was to give us THIS, then WHY 16 episodes? This is clearly set for a short drama of 12 episodes.

The wasted potential is astonishing.

When the white figure appeared and revealed the whole 49 Days, it reminded me of an old drama with that exact same name, so I was quick to associate the man being close to BiSoo and eventually it's revealed indeed who the man was.
However, the drama 49 Days was delivered better than this one that eventually focused too many moments.
It's like several fanfic moments collected in an attempt of a rom-com with a sprinkle of sappy melodrama.
And yet the angst wasn't fully there, it's perhaps half there if such. I wasn't emotional, it didn't move me... it annoyed me.

YuJin character was cringe to watch, because there was no chemistry there, it's like seeing a friend trying to claw his way out of the FRIENDZONE only to be pulled back there, and yet he never quits... being his passive self.
The only fun moments might be the "friendly broship rivalry" between him and BiSoo and even so it made no sense.

The side couples didn't pull me in at all, most of the times it was another filler inside of a filler, and it made me roll my eyes out.

The moms were cute, until a certain point where the plot line once again dragged.
His so called "dad", who seemed obsessed with the hospital was only there for his role of being a greedy man who only cared for his ambitions rather than the family he had lived with for decades.

BiSoo's disappearing made no sense, I mean they didn't explore much of the white man, his father, why or better yet HOW could he be granted more time only to fall in love and learn to be loved if he was doomed in the first place, other than for the reason of being with his mom until she passed. WELL woah, no one knows he "died" and assume he just went on a journey.
In the end I believe JooIn stayed with the same, if not a heavier amount of pressure in her shoulders, from dealing with her mother's illness and being the only one to know and grief for him and her loss without having a shoulder to cry and rely on.

I believe this drama started promising, than it got weird real fast like hit by a truck... and at some point in time (probably when she says she likes both BiSoo and YuJin) it went downhill.

OST wise it's the typical sappy songs through the "emotional" moments. Unlike other dramas it didn't strike memorable to me.
As far as re watch value, I say no thank you.
Not even if I would only have 49 days left, would be better to save myself from seeing this TRAGEDY once again.

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This drama is very very GOOD. Not just good, but very very GOOD. The theme is probably common, which is Love, but somehow this one gives a different kind of feeling. The theme seems to be much broader than only about the love between two people; it's also about friendship, life and dreams. Still sounds common the way I say it, doesn't it? Just watch it and you'll get what I mean.

The storyline is wonderful, the dialogues are amusing (in a witty way) and very very moving. Moreover, I also think the series is well paced; I didn't get the draggy feeling at all, I only wanted more! Not too mention, the acting is very good. The casts truly did a good job.

And finally, I can never get enough of Kai-kun. He is the sweetest male character I've ever encountered in a drama. You'd really be touched by all the things he'd said and done to/for Sae.

I have always wished for a second season ever since I finished watching it. I know it's impossible but hey, one can dream, right?

Anyway, I highly recommend those who haven't watched this one to watch it. It is definitely one of my favourite Japanese series ever.

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I'm still confused

At first I thought that the problem was me - this is a series that seemed very interesting based on the trailer alone, so I wondered if I my expectations were too big to begin with.
After watching 10 episodes (and having a hard time finishing the last two), I realized that the problem is in the series itself.

First of all, the idea that is supposed to be at the base of the series is not very clear. At the beginning I thought it would be some kind of spicy enemies-to-lovers story, but the ingredients weren't quite there - the reasons for Uea to dislike King so much are not solid enough to be convincing, and King's opinion of Uea at the beginning is a complete mystery. When the FWB situation started, I hoped that these things would be explored more as the series went on, but it never happened.
Instead of that, the story took an unexpected turn as it revealed Uea's turbulent past. I didn't mind the presence of such themes, but I was expecting them to be taken seriously and to be explored properly, which (again) never happened. If anything, it looked more like whoever wrote the story wanted Uea to have as many traumatic experiences and toxic people in his life as possible. I started to wonder if someone in the production team believes that "trauma is sexy" or something like that.
The series itself ended up failing with both the FWB story and the abuse survivor story, by never diving deep enough in either theme. The agreement between Uea and King becomes secondary very quickly, and Uea's problems only seem to grow in number. The relationships between the characters (not only Uea and King, but also their friends, colleagues and family) were also never shown properly, making their interactions always sound ambiguous - I was never sure whether one was supposed to be a close friend or a well-intentioned acquaintance. The miscommunication (which I was half hoping would not be there) and the awful pacing did the rest of the work to ruin it for me.
The acting is good enough, but since the story is so lacking in the first place, I was not able to enjoy it as much as I wished to. As for the music, it was too repetitive to add anything to the scenes. The sexy scenes were pretty mostly because the actors themselves looked pretty, I believe.

I was able to finish the whole thing thanks to some miracle, but I have no intention to touch this series ever again. I wish the writers chose one route and did it well instead of adding so many elements and handling them so badly. Its potential was wasted entirely and I can't bring myself to recommend it to anyone at all.

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I liked the drama even though each episode was short. I don't even know the actors but I admire their partnership and they both have chemistry. I hung up on episodes and hopefully have season 2. I still want to watch them. The actors are acting well especially the main characters "the couple". Honestly, I just tried to see if there was a good movie or drama series that wasn't boring to watch and this is what I tried. The first episode was already exciting, so I really followed it until I finished episode 14. Then, I waited for the next episode to download. Until the episodes were downloaded and I watched until the final episode.

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finally a good gmmtv show

I decided to give this series a shot after I saw Mix in the first episode of Fish Upon the Sky, and instantly fell in love with his smile. So, yes it was a very shallow reason to watch but oh well. Turns out this series just made me fall in love with him further. He is so extremely talented for a newer actor, and he portrayed Tian is such a good and realistic way. This series does a good job at handling the concepts of loss, tragedy, and rebirth. It focuses a lot on our main character who was very self-destructive at the beginning of the story getting a second chance in life and then going on his own journey of self-realization and growth. He grows so much throughout the series and was extremely easy to root for. He was always doing his best!! The other main lead (played by Earth) was a bitch push and pull, because at some moments he was likeable and at others he was not. It was at times hard to keep up with him. Also this series probably has one of my favorite coming out scenes in any series ever!! I kind of enjoyed how the romance was more focused on the feelings of the characters and them learning each other instead of overly physical aspects. Very enjoyable side-characters and actually mostly cast members that I'm okay with from GmmTv. This was truly a gem with a garbage fire (perhaps I'm a bit of a GmmTv anti).

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2020 hasn't had any good lakorns but My husband in law is a very good refreshing lakorn. It's a cute love story and the chemistry between Mark and Mew is beyond amazing. They both did so well in this lakorn.

My husband in law was my most anticipated lakorn of 2020 and I honestly was disappointed after watching the first few episodes. I almost dropped the lakorn because the whole hacking story was boring but I came back for it and I'm happy I did. The beginning was stalled for too long, the hacking story went on for too long which made the lakorn lose essence. However, it picked up after episode 7. Mew was no longer hiding her feelings and Mark was slowly falling in love. The moments they spent together was so cute until you realize Mew did all this because she was leaving and that made everything so painful. I really felt her pain because she loves him so much. She did so well playing a girl holding onto her first love while knowing it's not hers to hold, the pain was so real. And in the end when they realized how much they love each other, the sacrifices they were willing to make for one another left me speechless. Such love exists. Mew spent all her youth loving and dreaming about Mark and now her dream is no longer just a fantasy, it's coming true.

Overall, this lakorn has showed me love and even though the beginning didn't start off so well, I did love the second half of the lakorn a lot.

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