Reviews

Funny, crazy, a story of guilt and forgiveness

This is on my top 5 dramas.
Started a bit slow but kept me interested immediately…

ML-GohJin is the worst overbearing CEO I have seen so far…. Really awful…
Throughout the story.. he is faced with so many crazy situations… acting is hilarious… kudos to ML is really good…
He took me in the journey of hating him, feeling sorry for him, understanding him and loving him… again, acting at his best.

FL-Sina went from pushover, desperate, crazy, angry to understanding, supportive and totally empowered woman with so much integrity…. She is the character with best development I have seen… ever..

The interactions between these two are great…

Overall the intrigue is fuel by guilt and blame… and like someone wrote in comments somewhere… how powerful words are… they can make you or break you…

Loved it, recommend it 100%

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Great chemistry between ML and FL

I don't have a lot to say about this drama aside from that it should be watched just for ML and FL. They had amazing chemistry, romance, kissing, you name it. This was also because Park Hyung Sik had a crush on Park Bo Young while filming, so his real life feeling spilled into his acting. Amazing job.

Everything else was pretty much forgettable. I ended up skipping through the scenes with the parents, gangsters, high school kids. They were not interesting and felt more like fillers than part of the actual story. Even the villain was kind of disappointing because the writers did not really develop him. He had no backstory and his motivations were kind of just doing bad things for the sake of doing bad things, kidnapping just to see his victims suffer, and that's it. He was a one dimensional personality with no substance. However, the actor who played the kidnapper was very handsome and I wish he was cast as a hero in main roles.

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JUST AMAZING…

I really enjoyed this Taiwanese BL since it was very engaging plus it had so many plot twist that made me craving the next episode. It’s was cute but always heartfelt. It’s a drama that will have you attached to the characters and feel so many emotions as you watch it. I was really excited to see Nat in this drama and I loved his character. It’s a very different concept but I feel like they did it justice. Some things at the end was not to my liking but everything else was just perfect.

Can definitely say that this has become one of my fav Taiwanese BLs. Hopefully we can see these ships in more dramas in the future.

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Unknown, a love so beautiful.

Unknown, is a beutiful story about a forbidden love. While watching this series I felt the love and hardships that they went through. The perfect production and acting made me fall in love with this series. As someone who has suffered in the past due to family issues I could relate a lot to some of the emotions shown. I've never proparly believed in love but because of these characters I think that love can exist and its very precious. I have officialy become a fan of xuan and chris, which isnt normal for me as I have never been a fan of anyone. Their acting is outstanding, they really show the emotions well, making my eyes sore from crying. Thank you chris and xuan for portraying this story in such a nice way.

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If I could describe this series in one way, it would be WASTED POTENTIAL. Initially, I was loving this series, but as I continued watching, I became more and more disinterested in the characters, especially Ah Jung’s and Ji Han’s relationship, which sucked because at first I loved their relationship. Their dynamic was funny and enjoyable to watch. I especially loved that scene where they got drunk together despite still “hating” each other, but even though they had a strong start, the chemistry between them was gone the second that Ji Han realized he had feelings for Ah Jung. I honestly wish their relationship stayed platonic because the romantic aspect of their relationship ruined their dynamic. Ji Han had more chemistry (romantically) with Chae Won than he had with Ah Jung, and that should say a lot. Whenever Ji Han and Ah Jung are on screen together now, I found myself wishing for the scene to be over. I can’t stand watching their relationship anymore. It’s so boring now. And Ah Jung and Ji Han’s relationship isn’t the only thing I can complain about. There’s so many other things that made me dislike this series, like the lack of focus on the **initial** plot, which is the fake marriage. Instead of focusing on that, they only focused on developing Ji Han and Ah Jung’s relationship. It pissed me off whenever a scene with Ah Jung and Do Han would come on, and all Ah Jung would talk about or think about was Ji Han. Like, please SHUT UP. Not only that, but what’s up with all the unnecessary characters and conflicts? If they were going to have a side couple, they could have at least made it interesting, but no, they couldn’t even do that and with Do Han’s ex, the evil siblings, and all the other conflicts that come after that. They should have picked one conflict and stuck with it instead of making multiple and underdeveloping each one. Anyway, there’s probably more I can complain about, but that’s all I can think of right now. I know it probably seems like I hate this series, which isn’t far from the truth, but I’m giving it 6.5 stars because I genuinely did enjoy the first 6ish episodes. I just wish they executed everything properly instead of messing it all up.

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WARM FAMILY DRAMA

I definitely didnot know intially that it was a family drama. Xu kai was absolutely outstanding in his acting. He skillfully went from being cold and using Yang zi for his purpose to falling in love with her and giving up evil desires. Xu kai was such a cutie. His smile made the time stop for me. Yang zi as usual amazingly portrayed the role of a daughter. But dragging it for 37 episodes was not really necessary. It overall gives insight about hardships a family especially a mother faces when their children grow up, the constant anger and bickering, the extra consciousness of the mother regarding the society and so on. Just not a romance plot and definitely more than that.

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Save yourself from this mother-daughter melodrama

This drama was way more mother-centric than romance, so anyone here for romance mainly will be disappointed. I don’t mind if it’s a family drama but the decisions made by the mother from start to finish will rile you up. Not to mention that there are constantly annoying, good-for-nothing characters with no redeeming qualities popping in one after the next. There are some good moments but the ratio of melodrama to fun moments tips the scale too much. I only stuck around for the main couple, their relationship was good to watch. Otherwise, definitely wouldn’t recommend this - it’s too stressful and brings a lot of unnecessary negative emotions and melodramatic moments.

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MY BUTTHOLE CAN TELL A BETTER STORY THAN THIS!

The whole uni setting pissed me with how ridiculous and stupid it was. Also for a guy who is supposed to be the head of a department known for their looks, his haircut is worse than fucking Rock Lee!
Also at first, I thought it was modelling majors vs physical education majors, but talk about the disappointment.
I only watched one and a half of the first two episodes, so I truly do not deserve to give such a scathing review to something that may get better later on (Which I highly doubt given how the first two episodes were downright awful). The first episodes are supposed to hook you with a glimpse of something spectacular, but I got more ASS in writing for these episodes than I would for a porno!
This garbage truly does not receive the 7. 5 stars given to it, based on the first two episodes alone.

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If you can accept an episode that was useless to the series it is likable

7.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2024 South Korean romantic comedy series with 12, ~70 minute episodes. It is based on a popular Webtoon of the same name.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

Na A jeong (Jeon Jong seo) and Lee Do han (Kim Do wan)were best friends since high school. When Do han asks A jeong to help him avoid an arranged marriage by entering into a contract marriage, A jeong agrees because, as an aspiring actress, pretending to be romantically in love with her best friend is just another role to play. She is used to playing parts for people (such as rent a friend) to make money to continue to pursue her dream of becoming a lead actress. Do han has hidden his homosexuality from his family to this point and the contractual relationship with his friend will allow him to continue to keep his secret. Lee Ji han (Moon Sang min) Do han’s younger brother, is not aware of his brother’s feelings on romance, and wants to thwart the relationship between Do han and A jeong. He wants Do han to folllow through with the arranged marriage with Yoon chae won (Bae Yoon kyung) to secure their grandfather’s approval and inherit control of the conglomerate.

Review

This is a slightly predictable but overall good romantic drama. It has a small comedic element but I wouldn’t characterize it too deeply as comedy. It deals with some deep issues like sexual identity and social stigmas. The slice of life is in the chaebol/conglomerate world and a lot of the social tension is viewed from that, upper echelon, lens. The first half was very good, the premise was not unique but not completely overdone and the story had great flow. But, the last episodes there was a lot of unnecessary drifting and I think some even stopped watching because of that. If you can get through an episode or so and just stick with it, it all wraps up well. The ending is generally happy and mostly tied up. I would not rewatch it any time soon as there are so many better options available. I would recommend it to those that like this genre, are interested in contract marriage tropes or social stigma around falling in love with the “wrong” person. It is not a hard watch and mostly enjoyable except for an episode or so where they seemed t have lost the way.

Spoilers

There was a lot of conflict around the grandfather choosing his “illegitimate” grandson as his main choice of heir even with all the problems Do han had. Nothing was ever explicitly explained but I understood he wanted him out of a sense of guilt toward his daughter and because he felt that powerful position would protect Do han from the social stigma around being an “illegitimate” child as well as his sexual orientation. But, it made no logical sense that a business man would choose his Grandson for those reasons alone. If they had made Do han some brilliant business person, a managerial or economic genius then him choosing him for the other reasons would have made more sense. They also did not clearly indicate why he was so opposed to his other grandchildren taking that seat. It does come out later that their father effectively caused their mother’s death and that might be why he was opposed to them inheriting the business, the whole sins of the father angle, but that is also not super clear. I wanted a huge take down and for those evil relatives to get some of their due. I guess their punishment was the fact that their father had done something so horrible. But that wasn’t completely satisfying given how cruel they had been to their half brothers. I thought it would have been a great twist if they had turned out “illegitimate” since there was so much snobbery around that.

The chemistry between the two main leads was just weird. Sometimes they had great chemistry and other times it just wasn’t there. When they did the beaten past recognition trope of “I’m going to leave you for the good” they acted like being apart did not bother them much. It was hard enough to believe they had some deep connection prior to that and I was just getting it when that separation happened. Then it was like, just kidding, we didn’t love each other that deeply after all. They were trying for the angle that they were just acting like they didn’t care but you can’t achieve that level of detachment with someone you love deeply. And why? At the point they took the year apart Do han had come out and confessed everything and the public had already moved on from labeling her with the scarlet letter. So, there was no compelling reason for them to separate and it just seemed very dramatic at that point. Immature. Ji han’s press conference where he emphasized that he was the one to pursue her and seduce her was pointless. First, there were pictures of them having a passionate kiss and she was obviously just as involved with him as he was with her. And second, Do han confessing resolved the entire situation. All he had to do was have a real conversation with his brother and her and that press conference would have been completely unnecessary.

I am still trying to reconcile how a child could be held responsible, at all, for the death of their parent simply because they were the first one saved, and the car exploded in fire. The mother specifically requested he be saved first. The grandfather basically said he treated him the way he did not because he blamed him but because seeing him made the grandfather feel guilty and remorseful. Selfish much? And they never explained why the mom was in the car, why was he in the car, and who was the man driving that car. Did she really have a scandalous affair that produced the two boys. Was she just a trash person or was her husband always a violent maniac? That was such a key aspect but we really got nothing in the way of explaining the situation around the mother.

The ending was not fully satisfying because she was in a wedding dress but it turns out that was for a role she was playing and not that they were getting married. I don’t always need to see the leads get married. Often just the confession and them indicating they stay together is enough to feel fully wrapped up. In this case though the leads were so wishy washy with their relationship I would have liked to see them actually marry. It shows them running away together in the end but you aren’t tricking me a bit he grabbed her and they ran away when she was in a wedding dress before and they still split up.

There is the weird stalker level ex Jung Dae Hyun (ShinYongBum) who apologizes and is “redeemed” at least in Do han’s eyes. I could nit figure out why they made Do han’s ex such a creepy character. They could have gave him a happy ending with a great life partner. It could have been a sweet bonus romance. But that character was so creepy I did nit want to see Do han even forgive him.

I really debated what level of liking I had for this because it had so much potential. If it weren’t for that episode or so of them breaking up and pretending like they had moved on I would have liked it far more. So like 75% of it was really good, would have rated as one of my top favorites, but that 25% really did have an impact on how much I enjoyed the series. I wonder if the surprising cameos of some of the top talent was due to poor viewer response to the episodes that they broke up and the script drifted. I really liked Yon Chae Won (Bae Yoon Kyoung) character where she played the Chaebol of an adjacent conglomerate who was originally affianced to Do han but wound up in love with Ji han. She remained nice even when she was jealous and did not let others speak badly of or mistreat others without cause.

So it was nice that they had Kim Bum step in as a romantic potential for Chae Won. Lee Soo Hyuk also appeared at the end of the series playing the role of an onscreen bridegroom. And they had Ryu Kyung Soo in for a cameo appearance as well playing the onscreen lover of Ajeong’s drama character. In addition there was Lee Chung Hyun who played the role of a director for Ajeong’s current drama and he was/is her real life boyfriend. So it was a lot of cameos thrown in at the end and thought the characters played key roles in reigniting the leads relationship, it was very noticeable because it was so many in a short span.

#JeonJongSeo #WeddingImpossible #KimDoWan #MoonSangMin #BaeYoonKyung
#KimBum #LeeChungHyun #LeeSooHyuk #ShinYongBum

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Ninja mode: activated. ⚔️ Only a Shinobi can stop a Shinobi

Loved it! Liked it even more than I was expecting to, and I had been keeping an eye on this show ever since it was first announced. I lived in Japan for a while and have long been a fan of Japanese classic samurai/ninja cinema. It is so awesome to see this show bring back some of the great shinobi tropes, themes, lore, etc. From the great classic shinobi films of the 1960s (which are largely little unknown outside Japan). I particularly REALLY liked the depth of character/family development here, the emphasis on the human element of being a shinobi/ninja, and to see excellent martial art action that is done in a very grounded, realistic manner. The action was fast, visceral and not over the top, which made it all the more impactful.

The show is not perfect of course, but on the whole very entertaining and well done... The acting, production quality and action are all top notch and this is the exact kind of high quality drama series that I've been waiting to come out of Japan for a while now. There are so many original, interesting things Japan could be doing with TV/streaming series incorporating unique, rich cultural elements and the unmatched cool factor of samurai/ninja history, lore, etc. We will hopefully see even more productions in the future along these lines!

I really hope House of Ninjas gets a season 2! The first season has wonderfully established a world, a unique style/aesthetic, characters we care about, interesting themes and realistic badass action which could really be expanded upon in future seasons. More please!

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Don't focus on the character actions but the meaning behind them

This is my first post in MDL, even though I've been using this site for many years. the reason is this drama deserves.

Actually, the first reason to start to watch this drama was because XuKai and Yang Zhi. But the main reason to stay was the story itself.

This was the best family drama I ever watched.

The focus here is not the romance, but how the main character got together to be a family. I loved the development of characters.

In fact, the development of the story, apart from the whole race in the workplace, which hotel is better, being president, getting a promotion and who gets Xian' Li is basically about the development of the family.

About a mother and daughter who love each other but have different views of the world and can't handle it without almost ending their relationship.

For many, her mother's abusive behavior during the drama is a reason to stop watching. And yes, I myself was angry at how Mai Cheng Huan is used by everyone at first. For the mother who dreams big but wants to use that so her daughter can have a better life and ends up passing over her. For Zhiming who uses her to achieve his ambitions at work. For the boyfriend who takes her for granted, lies to her but tells her he loves her, even though he doesn't lift a finger to defend her from his family. But through it all, as the story developed, I was able to see that her mother actually just didn't know what she was doing. Yes, she is clueless. But at the same time she only tried what was best for her family. That person who didn't get what they wanted during their life, and passes this expectation on to their children. Although I don't agree, I understand the vision. She wanted the best for her children: Happiness, but she needed to really get to know her children. She couldn't understand that there is no way to please everyone in life and there is no shortest way to live. And in all of this, she almost had to lose her family to be able to learn a little about life. She has a personality like that, but it doesn't mean she doesn't love her family. When at the end Zhiming joins the family, after both his grandmother and his father were gone I love how she in particular treats Zhiming like a son the most, worried about him, this warms my heart.
And, in the end, we can see Cheng Huan also needed to learn about her mother.

What captivated me in this drama was the reflections on family life. Zhiming, being a boy who never had the experience and love of a family, and only knew material pursuits, returning to China taught him what love is, he changes not only for Mai Cheng Huan, but also for his grandmother. That even though he doesn't know how to show it, he loves her and was looking for her love. And I feel that Cheng Huan didn't teach him how to love like in many dramas, but taught him to see that small actions are worth more than anything by showing himself what love is. At his grandmother's burial , when she says on the video that she took him to the Mai family so he could have a family, that's exactly what happens during the drama. He starts out alone, but gets a big family, full of problems, but united and noisy, that's what he needed in his monotonous life.

I also like Grandma’s teachings. She lived a lot, and learned a lot about life. She had regrets, especially when it came to family. But she lived intensely. She shows how she managed to achieve happiness by balancing her life. She doesn't always help everyone, but lend a hand to help them walk until they can walk alone. Learn to speak but listen. Be for yourself, but have others around too. She says so many things that made me think about life.

I like how each character develops and shows us important parts of the family, and that not all of them are perfect, just as a family is not made up of blood.

One of the most beautiful scenes for me was Cheng Huan's father and Zhiming talking, and he talks about how he lives with her mother. Giving up things for everyone's happiness, and cultivating their love every day.

This drama is more mature and made to think about many things in life. If you are a person who likes to analyze everything, appreciate the teachings without caring about perfection, this drama is for you. There is no right or wrong here in the story, it's about everyone making mistakes, no one being perfect, but still loving yourself and your family. And no matter what happens, a family is together through the ups and downs.

Everyone's performance was incredible, I laughed, I felt embarrassed, I cried and I was moved.

The choice of songs were also incredible, and if you pay attention to the lyrics of each one, it also has a lot to do with the scenes.

In the end, it's a simple drama, which definitely has many similarities in terms of story, but it's its simplicity that makes it so special.

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Most realistic approach - ? unpopular opinion

At first I never thought that this series would have an impact on me on the first 2 episodes.
I like Kimmon’s acting so much from the series I watched.Always so caring.
I do believe that series was challenging as well for him,he played a difficult character, with unclear feelings and actions.
I gave a second shot to the series and I’m glad I did it. It’s true that Kimmon’s character suffered a lot,he got slapped don’t know how many times,that really tore my heart but in other hand that’s the irrefutable proof that he delivered so well that I was able to feel the same pain as him.
They had things that bothered me as the subtitles for exemple… it was difficult to keep in track with the story with unrelated sentences that they added. Hope they will revise it carefully for us international fans. They had most of parts that I understood without the subtitles… as a regular BL watcher we got our most heard and favorite words and sentences😉😂😂😂
From the moment I detached from the fact that most of the out of context subtitles and the engineer school recurrent content plot .I got to enjoy more about the content and what I seem to understand what they wanted to share with us.
All the actors delivered very well their characters,for a 10 episodes series I think they were more authentic representing how a balanced friendship should be. Taking notes and don’t want anything less😂😂😂
And the ost sang by Kimmon is simply … P-E-R-F-E-C-T (who have the English sub please?)
I would like to express my gratitude for a review a received telling me that I have to see for myself and take my own thoughts from it. Probably you won’t agree with me,you didn’t feel anything but if you can,give it a second shot and whatever is your position,know that’s alright 😇
It wasn’t the perfect series not gonna lie but it heats me deeply

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