Reviews

I'm glad I wasted my time just to watch this

Captivated By You is your typical feel-good drama. But what made me stunned and literally captivated by this is how simple it was, but the way they told the story of these two characters was endearing. It's literally just nothing but everything, a series of vignettes that tells the story of the two characters and the reason they are how they are.

Maybe at one point, you'll think why does Hayashi do all these meaningless things just to make himself think he "has time to spare", or why does Nikaido put in so much effort to not stand out because he was too handsome? These things seem really unnecessary and over the top at some point--but you know, that's youth. When these decisions although you may not know how much of it is right, just felt like they made sense during that time. This is a story about one's youth and the companionship that blossoms around it. Because at some point they were captivated by them and something about them gave out a lasting impact that changed the direction of their lives.

We all know very well that feeling of anxiety or uncertainty. Life seems so scary not knowing what you want to do and how you want to be--yet you march through it anyway. At some point in your own story, you meet people who will never glance at you ever, but you also get entangled with those who are drawn by you yet you never realize. I think this is what the drama wanted to present. It was so nostalgic and it actually made me miss my high school life, even if my past self wasn't as refined as who I am now, it validated that part of me because it's something that really does happen to everyone. Ah, youth.

It's not very straight to the point so for some it may seem confusing. Again, it's nothing but a narration of the lives of typical high schoolers. But if you're like me who likes to look into things a little bit more than what is shown in front of you, you'll realize how beautiful this drama is.

I want to commend the beautiful OSTs and the cast who (during this time) were still up-and-coming celebrities. This may look like a low-budget production with all the simplicity it held, but they made use of the cinematography to enhance the story, and the actors did a really great job portraying their characters.

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~One of the best kdrama of 2024~

I started watching this because of the title, it intrigued me in a way as I am a fan of thriller kdramas I was looking for something to binge-watch and I found it!! This kdrama is packed with action, relentless fighting and drama. Its definitely one of those kdramas you can watch again, the cast, the acting top-notch🔥 The ending was expected because they wouldn't kill the ML and he had most of screen-time and he's what supposed to be a mercenary bad-ass fighter. Just one thing about this show, too predictable I basically predicted the ending and that bale (whatever) villian was alive. Personally I like shows that are less predictable which will intrigue me to watch more and get more hyped up. Besides that, this kdrama was a blast for me, I found that pyscho (the boy who locked up jeong jian) quite annoying and impulsive but his death made me fall off my sofa, fr bro has such an easy death!😂
Definitely recommended for thriller kdrama-fans...!!!

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From 22 to 22

Sangzhi meets Jiaxu when she was 14, and fell in love with him when she was 17 and he was 22. Jiaxu was her brother's best friend and honestly, this is the healthiest drama ever. The plot, the acting, the storyline was amazing in so many levels. Sangzhi was very personality driven, never accepted unlawful behavior from anybody. She's by far the smartest character I've seen. And damn!! her brother Sangyan was the most beautiful character to exist. He really raised the bar for brothers and best friends. And Jiaxu! damn that man is one charming man!! his efforts to win Sangzhi was just worth dying for. Conclusively, this is the best drama I've watched. Highly recommended!!

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starts strong with refreshing role reversals but fizzles out with clichéd tropes

Queen of tears started strong with its plot mainly because of its role reversal on the most common tropes of kdrams the rich CEO and the poor female lead. It was refreshing to see Hong Hae in as the rich heiress and Baek Hyun Woo as Hae In husband who could no longer survive the enormous pressure put on him by his in-laws. While the plot and the plot- twists were surprising and unexpected, the last few episodes could no longer keep up with the excitement and its engaging plot. I personally felt that the writers had given up mid-way and added every trope possible to complete the drama.
There were a good amount of comical moments and the side stories of the aunt Beom Ja, Soo Cheol, Da Hye, and Hyun Woo’s family kept the series interesting throughout…..however none of them, nor the plot could save the last few episodes… Overall the series is a good watch and refreshing even. I would rate it 7.5/10

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Very bad actress

Very bad actress, has no expression, has the same face for all emotions. 000000000000000000000000000000000000000pp000000000000000 Very bad actress, has no expression, has the same face for all emotions
Very bad actress, has no expression, has the same face for all emotions
Very bad actress, has no expression, has the same face for all emotions
Very bad actress, has no expression, has the same face for all emotions
Very bad actress, has no expression, has the same face for all emotions
Very bad actress, has no expression, has the same face for all emotions

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One's Insecurity & Lack of Self-Esteem Leads to One's Downfall

I decided to watch this because (i) there are only 8 episodes which means it's quite easy to finish this drama and (ii) the cast is top-notch.

What I Found Good:
- The acting is top-notch (I reiterate). I think Mike He's transformation to tired working class husband is very convincing. I think he acted the best in this drama.
- The plot deals with very real issues like relationships problems between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, dementia, care-giving and its burdens, the duality of life - Jian Qing Fen wanted her MIL dead as caring for her was so hard but when she finally died, she missed her presence, the challenges of being a working parent, the frustration with the mundaneness of day to day life, the dissatisfaction of simply just living day to day without anything much that's exciting... ...
- Thought-provoking dialogue.
- The child actor who acted as Jian Qing Fen's son was quite endearing. He seemed sweet and was not a troublesome kind of kid.


What I Did Not Find So Great:
- The segue from present to past, past to present was at times, very confusing for me. I tried to make sense and tried to join the parts together. At times, I found the segue to be frustrating.
- The young Rebecca had kind of weird make-up and behaviours. She acted very oddly like a diffident teenager with autism. It was strange to watch. The present day Rebecca was very much more normal.

On the whole, this drama is on the heavy side so if you are looking for a light-hearted and humorous drama, this isn't your cup of tea. However, if you are looking for a drama with good acting, good cast and is quite short, you may want to consider this drama. :o)

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Unique plot but only average acting

The best thing about “DNA Says Love You” is the unique and original plot. Although I wouldn’t say the drama is full of unexpected plot twists and it’s actually somewhat predictable, I enjoy the writing and the introduction of the mysterious Amber. The characters are college students, but I am glad that this is not a college drama. Friendship plays a central theme in this drama, and there are some fun and solid friendships and banter.

However, I was actually not very interested in the first couple episodes. I did not like the unnatural acting of Lukas Huang, who plays ML Pu Le Chien (Ah Le). I also find the general acting of Lin Wei Jie and Tannie Huang a little over-the-top, but that’s probably because Taiwanese acting is a little hit-or-miss for me. I did get used to it after a while but as a whole, it’s just OK acting. With the introduction of Erek Lin’s character, Amber, the story picks up its pace. I like Erek’s acting more than others, probably because his character is not as loud, and his acting needs to be more subtle.

Once Amber comes into the picture, the plot moves a lot better for me. I enjoy how he’s welcomed into the circle of friends, and how he really gets close to Ah Le. I think viewers slowly find out the identity of this mysterious Amber. I enjoy seeing how the friendship/romance develops but do think it’s too fast for Ah Le to go from realizing his feelings and to falling head over heels within 15 minutes of screen time. I wish there’s more time for his realization to set in, for him to ponder and agonize over it a little more. The last four episodes are emotional and really touching, and definitely better than the first four episodes.

The secondary romance could have been written better. They have so much screen time in the beginning and then disappear after their subplot is over. I thought they left town already but they haven’t.

The OST only has four songs but I like them, especially the three slower ones: 決定我愛你, 蝴蝶 Butterfly, and 曖昧關係 Ambiguity. I added all three to my Spotify playlist. 🙂

Despite not being a big fan of everyone’s acting, I do recommend you to check it out for its unique plot and lovely songs. There are only 12 thirty-minute episodes and it is an easy and quick watch.


Completed: 5/7/2024 - Review #437

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Has flaws, but overall a good watch

Unlike all the reviews hailing and praising the source material, I'm going to HEAVILY disagree with that.

If you have not read the webtoon and plan to, maybe come back to this after you've read that.

Anyway, despite some shocking scenes in this series, the way the story progresses is very in-tune to the life stages that the characters are in. They're all teenagers, in a highly homophobic world, and they're all in highly emotional situations. I prefer the story in the series, as the source material involves not only a very concerning power imbalance between an older man/married professor and a student, but also how extensively abusive Juha is originally meant to be.

The common complaint is that Taeyi was out of line in one scene the most, but his development and the rage he felt means he was going to explode and Seheon happened to be the one not only making his way into Taeyi's life, but the one that Taeyi felt was making him have to process his grief. Unless if you've lost someone extremely close to you, you won't understand the rage that takes over you and your rationality. Grief is never a clear and straight path, and you don't always move forward. Plus, he's an actual child in this and I think people are going in a bit too hard on him after having such a traumatic and tragic loss then having to process how someone has come into his life and makes him happy (something he tries to convince himself he doesn't want).

Then there comes the whole mess between Juha and Doyoon... I do not think Juha deserves any kind of sympathy if we want to use the source material. In the series there is at least room for some different type of conflict, but the webtoon only highlighted how bad of a person Juha was.

Because of this and the gross the situation between Taeyi's brother and Seheon's father, I don't agree that the source material is better. Even the progress of the relationships is lackluster in the webtoon but I think we had a good thing starting with the series adaptation and the changes/omissions that it had.

Still, until LGBTQ+ productions are taken seriously, given proper funding, and are seen as actual necessary media in South Korea (which they are), we are going to have to take things as they are able to be presented sometimes. I only say this lightly, because even productions like Love for Love's Sake managed to pull of most of the original source material or adjusted it to create a more condensed but still relatively loyal to the story series without sacrificing the queerness it is based on.

Jazz for Two had so much more potential, and it saddens me we could've had more, but I personally enjoyed it and most specifically the complexity of grief that this series gives an insight to. The only real flaws are that it needed a lot more time and better dialogue between characters. And although others want to see more from Juha and Doyoon, I'm okay with never seeing that come full-circle.

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Just as titled 'Love Is Like a Cat,' but with no cat, only a dog; so, love was missing.

Disappointed, no hate, just my honest review. Watch if: 1. you are a die-hard fan of any of the actors, 2. you are an animal lover, 3. you don't care. Don't watch it for BL content; the entire series is 3 hours long, with BL content comprising hardly 10 minutes, and only in the 7th, 11th, and 12th episodes. There's no chemistry; it felt like they kissed each other just because there were no girls around. One main lead was Thai, and they used a translator for a single reason. Acting was average; Dog Cafe had only one dog, and the entire series revolved around the dog more than the human main leads. Extra characters for unnecessary drama; I didn't feel anything. It's way too slow until the 10th episode, and the other two episodes were rushed just to ensure the male leads ended up together.

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Highly overrated

Ji Changwook is a versatile actor and we all know it. Shin Hyesun is the toughest and one of the most elegant actress and we know that too. But here, both of their potentials were wasted big time. I can't even get started on the sheer ridiculosity of the story. The writer made some unbelievably stupid and irritating characters and just dumped them without a proper background. One of them is Cho Samdal herself. That woman's fake pride was high up the sky, and she was living in denial all along that she can never fail, because according to her, she is supposed to be the only one to succeed in Seoul from Jeju. Her bratty behavior and her demeanor was a pain to watch tbh. Next is Yongpil's dad, Sangtae. He definitely has some serious woman issues and was almost a lunatic. He blamed Samdal's mom for his wife's death when in reality it wasn't anybody's fault. I have never seen such a spineless man ever in my life. Imagine blaming someone else for your own incompetence. All in all, it was a forcefully curated slice of life drama where there's no slice of life in it. The only saving grace was the natural backgrounds, at least they were pretty. Eunju, the antagonist, was supposed to be annoying, but she was less annoying than Cho Samdal actually.

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50-50

I was disappointed with the ending of the drama, or rather, I found the ending to be unclear.

While the beginning was promising, especially with the introduction of all the main characters, I only found the story truly interesting after 30th episode. Although there were some good scenes scattered throughout the drama, overall, I found it to be quite boring.

Personally, I found Tan Yu's love story more engaging than the main leads' storyline, but unfortunately, as a second lead couple, they didn't get as much screen time.

The actors and actresses did a great job, giving it their all, but the story itself didn't leave much of an impact.

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No Thank You

I only watched it for Yeon Woo Jin. I'm simply glad that this travesty has ended. The female lead is so annoying that she tampers with the crime scene and makes poor decisions. I am not shipping her and the police officer, I am rooting for the husband. Glad this drama is over. The reporter Seo Jung Won was emotionless her husband just wanted someone to love him and she was not that person she loved her career more than her husband, the police officer was stuck in the past, and his love for a married woman was a bit disturbing. The writer and the director tried to force-feed the audience with this nonsense of first love, I usually like that concept, but not in this case where the FL was very selfish and tampered with the crime scene and never showed any emotion.

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To be human is to be insecure and fragile

That's my take on this drama.

I have always been impressed with Zhou Yu Tong's acting prowess and selection of dramas. So, I know her drama will definitely not be typical.

Here, she is portrayed as toxic (in terms of relationships) but honestly, don't we all?

Humans, by their nature, are complex beings with emotions, vulnerabilities, and insecurities. As the eldest daughter and disabled at that, Zhuang Jie felt an intense sense of responsibility for others, having an inclination toward overachieving, struggling with anxiety, people-pleasing, and establishing boundaries in adult relationships.

Being human also encompasses strength, resilience, and the capacity to overcome challenges. This is what I find sweet because she finds her strength from Chen Mai Dong. A man who is non-judgmental but also won't take any shit. This is exactly what Zhuang Jie needed to complete her growth as a human.

The theme of this drama is death - which makes a lot of viewers uncomfortable, but quoting CMD - "death is unavoidable. It's not the end but rather the completion of a process"

Which I find rather true and it's not dark. It's just real.

So if you want a real drama, intense chemistry, character development, and something that makes you ponder on life, go for it

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