Super Star Academy (2016)

You need to understand what you’re getting into here

Look. This show is amazing, but you need to know what you’re getting into in order to appreciate it.

Are you looking for a plot that makes even the slightest bit of sense at any point? Then Super Star Academy is not for you. Do you love shows that are so bad they’re good? It… might not actually be what you’re looking for, either, but you should give it a try.

If you want absurdist humor that doesn’t take itself seriously for one moment, so sometimes you can’t quite tell if something is a joke or a plot hole, wrapped in actually pretty darn decent acting, this IS the show for you. I was expecting “so bad it’s good,” but it turns out the writers are the funniest people on earth. The fact that they do not at any point care if the plot makes sense is a bonus, not the main event.

Another bonus: The principal/president of the school is probably the best character of the show, and near the end they could have ruined that by having him be creepy with a student but they did not. Kudos to them for not going for the obvious, cheap “humor”.

Read More

This drama is pretty interesting it's very good but most of the people in the cast thing looks so much alike but if you looking to like the style of the hair it's slightly different. My favourite part would be when the boy and the girl our stock well the girl just ended up coming to a classroom and classroom and just thinking about stuff and then the boy just appearing out of nowhere saying what are you doing here which was very interesting sorry drama drama I loved how they have different powers and they only had one until they were allowed to leave the house only flaw about this whole show was the boys looking a lot alike the girl and the teacher is being a little too mean well the teachers weren't that mean but the for the girls some of the girls for me so I would say I would say you should watch this drama if you like bedtime heroes or just give me a flight bit of scared into love but I don't think it's very good the feeling how the boy in the girls interesting I love the girl that I have super powers but you can see the future and I love it the show is amazing it just has one flaw or two sorry if I'm talking a lot about the boys looking good the same it's just if you watch the show so grandma he will know how annoying it is to know the boys look very similar and I know most people would agree with that but it's interesting, so you should check it out by yourself and they have very few people and their last names are very very interested I mean it it's not the girls fault she went to his changing room. But seriously it's a great drama watch it I loved it

Read More

Too Much Slap-stick, Non-Cohesive Storyline

I went into this drama completely blind, and I left feeling - unsatisfied. Why? Well, this drama, could have had the potential to be something quite extraordinary, if not for the overbearing crack comedy in line with scenes that could have been powerful and emotional but were ruined by the over-exaggeration that was used.
What do I mean by this? Well, I understand comedy is a genre associated with this show, but when used overwhelmingly it ruins the entire story in my opinion.
Scenes that could have been emotional and move me to tears, were ruined because I was expecting some stupid joke to come into it, it broke my immersion and left me feeling kind of annoyed. I continued watching, hoping it would improve, but it didn't seem to.
In relation to the plot, there were so many gaps in the storyline, rushed - pointless even - scenes. We went from A to Z super fast. I understand it's 22 minutes max per episode with only thirty episodes, but I felt it was all over the place in terms of a proper timeline structure. One minute we have an epic battle, the next thing we have unnecessary additional characters, with no solidity...
I will say that the acting was good enough, but as I said, when it came to scenes that were supposed to be emotional, I felt nothing, it just seemed they were added as an afterthought...
Overall, I wasn't very impressed, I felt that the main actors, who are extremely talented actors in other dramas, were robbed of a good story and characterisation. it ended without a set conclusion I think, and I doubt there will be another season to bring the plot hole filled storyline to order...

Read More

This is just a good web drama to pass the time and laugh, that´s all.
You should watch Superstar Academy if you want a short and simple drama with a lot of comedy (but no smart comedy) and silly moments. I mean this drama is full of silly moments, so I couldn´t take seriously the parts that were supposed to be "dramatic".
You shouldn´t watch Superstar Academy if you want a high quality drama and a well-developed story. The story idea is actually good and interesting: superpowers are great, but the script doesn´t do anything to drive the story in a good way, instead the storyline is predictable and weak. The acting is also weak but it combines perfectly with the funny scenes. And the end was so disappointing considering that it was not a complicated story, I think it was because they wanted to do a second season, who knows ¯\_(?)_/¯

Read More

Super Star Academy.....
That happened. I watched it.
Do I regret watching it? A bit.
It's one of those shows where it's so bad that it becomes somewhat enjoyable. It's just... the best way to describe this show is that it feels as if it was written by a twelve-year-old, shot by a high school film team, and all the special effects were added by some free app on the App Store.
It's a mess.
Let me go into more detail on what kind of mess this is....

Story 〆(・∀・＠): As I mentioned earlier, it is a story that feels as if it came from some twelve-year-old fanfic that was written on Wattpad. So... girl. Average girl, (It says she got bullied but I feel like she's fine up until coming to the school. I think it's just one of those things the writers added in to make her relatable... I dunno anymore) she goes to this magic school because she made magic noodles (wish I can say I'm kidding) and meets a group of extremely odd characters. Not gonna lie, I enjoyed some of them. Some were weird in a likable way, and some were just outright good looking. Anyway, with the story... It was extremely basic. They stuffed in so many magic school tropes that have been used a countless amount of times. And when it came to them wanting to add a major conflict, I felt like nothing was at stake because nothing made any flipping sense! I ended up being just confused and sitting there with the feeling of my IQ plummeting to the ground. The one thing I can appreciate is that the writers probably knew how garbage the show was and did not take themselves seriously. And even when they did try and make a moment with the hopes of pulling on the heartstrings, I found myself laughing at how ridiculous it was. Maybe the writers meant to do this? I really don't know. All of it was just a hot middle school Wattpad fanfictiony mess.

Acting ｡゜(｀Д')゜｡: These actors.... they feel to me as if this was their first production. A lot of them are idols and are apart of bands. They also (at the time of this show being produced) don't seem to have a lot of experience under their belt. The only actor I heard of before starting this show was Sean Xiao. The acting in itself was hilarious in ways it shouldn't have been. The show became so much more enjoyable because the acting was just........ bad. I'm not saying everyone was terrible. All I know is that moments, where I should have been emotional or saddened were actually just me laughing it up because I couldn't take the acting seriously. I'm not going to go into any specific moment because *cough* it's a spoiler-free review. But let me just say that in the end, in the moments where I'm supposed to feel something, I just burst out laughing because of everyone's facial expressions. This show does seem like an excellent place to get a person's name out. So I definitely see it as a beginner's project. But in no way was the acting even close to award-winning and was just so unusual that I ended up taking so much delight in it.

Music ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪: This is the one thing that I think the show did very well with. Maybe it's just my personal taste, but the opening songs (there were two of them) were just...... jams. I had a blast listening to them every time the episode started. I usually watch opening sequences for shows just to see the effects or set up they have going. Rarely do I watch an opening for the music itself. But in Super Star Academy, I just closed my eyes and listened to the opening songs. Background music, on the other hand, was nothing special. They did what they were meant to do in regards to setting a mood so I'll give it credit. The opening songs, on the other hand, were the real show stoppers. *claps*

Other (ง°ل͜°)ง: The supernatural stuff... time to talk about that. I'm not going to touch on the special effects themselves since it's kind of depressing to talk about. But the whole premise with people being born under a particular zodiac and having powers just..... I was just.... it was confusing. I do not understand who gets powers and who doesn't. Clearly, everyone has a zodiac. But who gets powers? It's set in the modern-day world, and nobody seems fully aware of these super-powered people, but none of them even tried to hide themselves. All while the school itself having small classes (tiny in respect to the classroom sizes in America), so I'm just confused about who gets powers and who doesn't. Also, the superpowers themselves were confusing. Besides their quick introduction in the beginning, I struggled to remember which zodiac could to what. Even when I think I have it down *BOOM* someone who can predict the future just made some kind of magic energy blast. I could never keep up with what people can do. Even the main female protagonist, Cheng Zhi Er, gave me a headache with her "superpower." Magic noodles? Does nobody ever question that!? No. Because again, this seems like a twelve-year-old Wattpad writer who doesn't know how to tie up loose ends.

It's really the only way I know how to describe this show: it being such garbage that I found myself continuously watching it.
Did I get bored while watching it? Yes. (Some scenes were just too stupid for me)
But I never got so bored that I ended up dropping it.
What helped me get through it was just imagining it as a high school film assignment (but then again I might be giving this show too much credit)
I will finish off by saying I don't regret watching it. There were some hilarious moments that, for some reason, kept me from playing the dropped button.
So if your ever looking for a show where you don't need any brain cells (and don't mind losing a few while you're at it), then, by all means, go for it. This show is perfect in the art of dumbing one down a bit. And with summer on the way, why not start early? It's also not that long, so it doesn't feel like too much of a commitment.
Definitely give it a shot if your bored, wanting to feel stupid, and don't mind watching garbage.
Happy watching <3

Read More

A Bit Creative but kinda messed up.

Please tell me where and why you agree and disagree with me after reading this review.
Suggestions are welcomed.

BE CAUTIOUS, SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Getting to the drama~
So it was a bit more creative than the regular high school or college romance dramas you see but it all got a bit messed up because of the bad editing or bad acting (in some of the scenes) or a bit of the storyline which went wrong.

Story: 7.0
The story was quite interesting in the starting, the screenwriter seemed to have done quite a bit research about zodiacs since he/she actually included the Ophiuchus but he/she seemed to lack a bit when he decided which power should be given to whom. I think the powers should have been according to the personalities of the zodiac people but it was a bit superficial like the leo (meaning lion) had a roaring power. The people seemed to like fighting more like normal people or muggles (since some reviews here say it's a bit like harry potter, I'm adding yes, it's a bit like harry potter but harry potter is a totally new level so, I won't compare.). The Ophiuchus have been introduced as people of high IQ so I expected them to be cunning but they actually turned out to be cute little buddies trying to seem intimidating.
The competition was a total mess, like who gives them tasks which are so easy, cook hotpot?
There were some things which were unexplained till the end like the medicine TAN gave Tianze roaring power but made the others into the COS army. Why?
Why was the leader Ophiuchus able to use the powers of 2-3 zodiacs?
and many more.
Everything else was okay except the fact that I never understood why it's written a parallel world in the description since I don't see everyone having these zodiac superpowers.
To be honest, (some people will hate me for this but) I liked the chemistry of Bai Bai and Zhou Dong more than Fang Tianze and Cheng Zi'er. Fang Tianze and Cheng Zi'er seemed to have been in love ever since they were born, no falling in love process was there.
The story was a little bit thriller.

So, it's quite recommendable.

Acting/Cast: 7.0
The editing was very poor, like the falling off the rock scene, etc.

⨠Xiao Zhan as Fang Tianze, he was quite okay overall. I quite liked him in "The Untamed" but here, he seemed so out of love with Cheng Zi'er and also not every expression was good. All I would say is that he's improved a lot in this industry ever since.

⨠Wang Yu Wen as Cheng Zi'er, her acting was okay as well. She didn't exactly pull on the character, her acting was so good in some scenes for eg. the falling of the rock scene or escaping from Ophiuchus with Fang Tianze scene (well, I apologize for such lames names, but they explain exactly what I'm talking about.). She didn't seem to be in love with Fang Tianze instead, her chemistry seemed better with Wan Shi Cun at times. (I'm not shipping them, I'm actually totally against them getting together in the drama.)

⨠Bai Shu as Wang Shi Cun, his acting was good, here as well as in Love and Redemption, he performed quite well.

⨠Wu Jia Cheng as Shen Hao, he played his role alright as well.

I really liked the acting of:
⨠Xu Xiao Lu as Huo Bei Bei, she did really well in the broken heart scenes. (I'm not saying I like her character but I don't hate it as well since I'm a Scorpio myself and I know the actress isn't a Scorpio, just the character is.)

Music: 7.5
It was nice overall.

Rewatch value: 7.0
Definitely worth it if you like the chemistry of any of the couples.

Overall: 7.0

Quite alright.
So, just go ahead and have a try.

Hope it wasn't boring.
Lots of love <3

Read More

to start off, I don't absolutely hate this show. I don't like it at all, but I don't hate it. the story is interesting but in more of a wattpad kind of way. it was weird how rushed the relationship between the main characters was as well. in one episode, she genuinely hates the guy and then the next one she's totally in love with him. ill compare that to the show "skate into love" where the main characters fall in love in a realistic way. also, basically all of the characters are just unlikeable. they tried to do that "brave quirky girl" thing with the female lead and it just didn't work.

the acting is just bad. it seems like even the actors are a bit confused about the bullshit that's written on the script. there's nothing really specific that I can think to elaborate on but it was just bad acting.

I have to say, there was one scene where I genuinely laughed. one. the show is just a terrible mix of funny and serious. the jokes aren't funny.

the effects are a whole different level of bad. it looks like they used some random free app that they found on an iPad.

all in all, I take back my first statement. I do absolutely hate this show. thank you for reading my review :)

Read More

Loved the cast, liked the music, later started to hate the script

My 100th drama completed.

I started this drama because I loved Wang Yuwen in Novaland 2 and I wanted to watch Xiao Zhan as a lead in one of his earlier dramas before watching The Untamed.

Music:
This drama started of really good. Gave me serious old (early 2000's) American (abc and Disney) drama/movies vibes, mostly because of the music, as well as Moorim School. But then after around 13 episodes it went downhill. The theme song changed first off all, and it no longer had good background music, if any background music at all. And the music was one of the best parts of this drama.

Acting:
The acting was great and I find it amazing how all the ML's were from X nine, the entire boy group is in this drama and they were all really good at acting. It also explained the really good chemistry between the male leads.
I've watched the FL before on Novaland so I know she's not a bad actress. And she wasn't. I just didn't like her role. Out of a school full of people with superpowers, why does this girl have no powers? Why is she the most useless and helpless character in the entire drama? I just didn't like this about her character. I thought that she, like in Novaland, would grow stronger as the series goes on, but she really doesn't.

Comedy:
The only other good thing about this drama was the comedy. The script wasn't that great, sometimes plain awful. But the comedy was consistent and made a really cringe scene, or serious scene funny. Some of the characters did some seriously stupid stuff, if it weren't for the whole comedy aspect, especially with the villains, then all the characters would have just been plain annoying. There's a line between being comedically stupid and being annoying stupid and this drama did great on the first.

Plot:
The plot started off really good and seemed like it would go somewhere. But at the end it didn't really go anywhere, at least where the FL was concerned. The plot completely changed directions less then halfway through the drama, it was going one way and then I lost the plot because they got some random plots out of nowhere. It wasn't that the plot was bad, it was just executed badly. Important events that should have taken more of the story, took about an episode or less.

Ending (Possible spoilers):
Somehow this drama was both too long and too short. The episodes are less then 20 minutes each (excluding the intro and bts), and yet it still felt too long because it got really boring. But it was short in the sense that the ending, when the story finally got somewhere in the last episode, wasn't really explained, it seemed out of nowhere and went against the entire plot of the show. Characters that had certain goals, especially the villains, suddenly just stopped.

Read More

Be aware that this may contain spoilers.

As someone who enjoys astrology. When I saw a drama using Zodiac signs as a concept, I was excited. But... I was a bit disappointed by the execution.

Story:
The world-building was a bit confusing for me. In their world, some people can get powers from their horoscope sign, but I always wonder why. From what I remember, not everyone gets power. So what makes those who do get power an exception? I feel like they should've made everyone in the world have powers, except for Cheng Zhi Er. It could make her feel more insecure and give people a reason to bully her since the summary says she has been bullied all her life. which is untrue. Yes, she is bullied, but it happened when she got INTO Super Star Academy. Also, her reason for being able to go to school for free is complete bullshit. But the whole storyline about Fang Tian Ze not being an actual Leo and Wan Shi Cun slowly becoming more and more aggressive and arrogant (his Leo is showing /jk? no hate for those who are Leo's) on taking his revenge was quite good. On the other hand, the whole Ophiuchus thing is meh. (I didn't care much about the whole Ophiuchus storyline. And even worse, the Ophiuchus has yet to be defeated.)

Characters:
Cheng Zhi Er- I didn't care much about her. She wasn't as interesting compared to Fang Tian Ze, Wan Shi Cun, or even LI YADANG!! Also, if you're excited to know about her powers, don't even bother, because we didn't even see much of them. Like we only saw it for a couple of minutes in the LAST EPISODES and then BOOM!!! A few months went by. Like- ಠ_ಠ???? (Also, her other name is hilariously stupid and long. It sounds like it came straight from Wattpad.???).
When it came to her romance with Fang Tian Ze, it was adorable, but the transition from hating each other to loving each other was so quick. As someone who LOVES the enemies-to-lovers trope, I was severely disappointed. I recently watched another drama where the main leads were enemies to lovers. But I disliked how the male lead fell in love with the female lead so quickly, when in the previous episode they hated each other!! Just let them slowly understand each other and become friends, and THEN become lovers. I also didn't like the fact that she hasn't apologized for the whole pervert thing. 

Fang Tian Ze- I enjoyed him. His internal conflict of not being a Leo, not being the actual heir, and hiding it was good. He was far more intriguing than Cheng Zhi er.

Wan Shi Cun- At first I thought I would get another SLS, but after watching more episodes, I was happy that they didn't end up together. Anyways, I think his character was really good. Him slowly becoming more horrible to get his revenge was really good. But I don't hate him that much (maybe just a little) because I understand where he's coming from. Though his redemption arc was a bit quick, apart from that, I think he was a good character.

Shen Hao- He wasn't complex or anything. He's pretty likable. His friendship with Fang Tian Ze is nice, even though he was meant to serve and protect him. I can tell Fang Tian Ze genuinely thinks of him as a friend. I also loved his interaction with Li Yadang; they were hilarious. I enjoyed their scenes together. 

Li Yadang- Even though he was quite arrogant, I enjoyed his scenes. The whole him always being in 3rd place thing is so funny???. But his backstory is really interesting. No, they did not touch upon it. This, to me, is a shame because his mom treated him as a girl during his childhood is a very interesting backstory. (It's Nagisa all over again) And I think it'll be nice if they show him trying to be very masculine in the present as a way of coping or to prove to himself he is a boy.

Huo Bei Bei- She's just the cliche mean girl, and supposedly Fang Tian Ze's girlfriend??? The reason why I'm not sure is that it doesn't seem like Fang Tian Ze gives any shit about her?. Like why would he date her, when he's very annoyed by her? From what I see, their parents seem to push them together (more specifically, her dad). Maybe she just says he is her boyfriend, but he really isn't. Who knows? But if she is his girlfriend, I think it's quite messed up that Cheng Zhi Er and Fang Tian Ze go on dates when he has a girlfriend????? Can't blame her for getting mad if they are together.
Anyway, the other characters are fine. I like Datou (Fire Girl) I found her hilarious.

Acting:
I don't think it's that bad. I don't know a lot about acting compared to writing, so I don't think I have a lot of say about if the acting is good or not. But it's fine, in my opinion.

Music:
The intro music was really good, in my opinion. The outro song was also nice, but I do find it funny how long the outro is??.

Overall:
If you're someone who likes fantasy romance with comedy, then go for it. Though the comedy could be a bit much and unnecessary during the fighting scene. Even though the story is a bit questionable, I still enjoyed it. And I wish we had a 2nd season because it left us on a cliffhanger.

Read More

Reviewer has soft spot for xnine but mostly Xiao Zhan fan~

As a fan of Xiao Zhan, this drama has always been on my watchlist but did not really want to watch it coz I was afraid I'll be disappointed. After finally watching it this 2024 and enjoying it immensely, I want to scold myself for not watching it earlier. It is not the best and you can clearly see that it is a low budget film with foolish villains, advertisements done by characters themselves and so many obvious flaws but the comedy was right up my alley. I was either smiling or laughing for the whole duration. I like all the characters and did not find anyone particularly annoying. I was surprised by my tolerance for this drama when I could never watch anything with obvious flaws.
I watched for the male lead and witnessed him being awkward lol ?. I downloaded all the episodes to get back to when I want a laugh. Anyway, I recommend this to people who like comedy, other Xiao Zhan fans and those who like xnine. Let's enjoy it all together ????

Read More

Undefinable but rather entertaining comedy that could have taken itself more seriously

The ratings I'm giving are pretty much nonsensical. This series is pretty hard to review. It is a low-budget series that can be improved in quite a number of ways. The choreography of fight sequences, the editing and cinematography are not exactly impressive. On the other hand, there can be a lot of fun in story of a college for people with supernatural powers (which are determined by their star sighs).

The absurdist and often self-reflexive humor with frequent allusions to Chinese pop songs can be entertaining even though the extent to which it works in the middle of the more serious scenes is debatable. While it is often a good thing that the story is not presented as one to be taken seriously, it seems that the production team has gone a little too far with this at times. It feels almost as if they merely decided to have fun, thinking that they can't possibly make anything great with the limited budget and other constraints. Yet, if they had just moderated the absurdism somewhat, the series would have been much better. I loved how the series focuses on the more glamorous characters while making a statement about the underdogs who are ignored. The minor characters who refer to themselves as minor characters brings to mind how even people who are not in the limelight or center of attention are often neglected. There is also the a character with the power of invisibility to good effect--he appears only occasionally (enough for us to remember) and reminds invisible until Episode 28 when he is revealed to have been quietly protecting the main female character. In life, many people go unnoticed, whether it is because of their personality, their class status or other reasons, and this is shown in a suitably understated manner.

At its best, the series makes use good use of whatever resources it has. The product placements, for instance, are often used in a way that enhances the humor. Apart from the premise of a battle of people with supernatural powers, there is the romance between the main male and female characters and even hints of BL in a comedy that is rather hard to define. I think the story was a little too rushed in the last few episodes--the beginning contains too much unimportant stuff related to the competition in the college and could have been made more compact so that the story can end properly. Perhaps a Season 2 was being considered, but I doubt it will be done.

Read More