2024 watched titles (completed list)

Help- how was this my first title of 2024??? eh whatever, can probably stick it in my MDL challenge somewhere.

Final thoughts on this one - spoilery I think

Used for country in MDL 2024 Challenge

sapphics with colour and greyscale. surprisingly dear to me considering the length! (pun unintended, but perfect positioning of K:DTM)

no post but thoughts are summarised above - this is very short so you can spend a couple minutes watching it and not feel bad!

Beautiful. It gets the 10 from me because it damn well deserves it! My final thoughts!

1st least fave from C5hallenge. Avoid using for MDL challenge unless absolutely necessary (doubtful)

Final thoughts

1st fave from C5hallenge!

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this was fun! comfort watch for whenever I want some GOOD hugs! 

Final thoughts

Used for country in MDL 2024 Challenge

Simple and sweet! Also, THEY WATCHED THE HANDMAIDEN DO YOU KNOW HOW GAY THAT FILM IS???????

FINALLY I watched this! So damn fun, and Shibasaki Ko was awesome here! She was NOT 14 (phew!) but she was roughly 18. My maths really was not mathsing that day. Also, she had long hair!

Final thoughts!

Used as Leap year title in MDL 2024 Challenge

Final thoughts! Used in TWC 2024.

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Sweet and simple. It's a drama special, so I'll see if there's any section in a watch challenge that needs one! Used in MDL 2024 Challenge

Final thoughts!

Thai so possibly use for TWC, or MDL challenge otherwise!

Final thoughts! Least fav round 2 of C5hallenge

Final thoughts! Fav of round 2 c5hallenge!

I rewatched this with @flamingo over 4 months ago and forgot to put it here until I added my 22nd July rewatch, so this is my first rewatch of a drama. I figure it's so short I forgot to add it to my list XD

3rd least fav from c5hallenge. Since I mention Cherry Magic has good hugs, this can't go unmentioned. The hugs here were lovely, and although I grew less interested, if someone else wanted to watch party I wouldn't object to rewatching with them since it started out well!

Final thoughts!

3rd fav from c5hallenge - I loved this from start to end, and it was comforting.

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This was fun! The director and screenwriter Sand apparently made it for his thesis project, and it's pretty good apart from the plot feeling a bit pressed for time. The best fact I learnt was that Sand also got to direct and screenwrite in GMMTV's 2018 remake of the show!

Final thoughts!

Would not recommend. Awful, sexual harassment/assault and poor FL goes through so much that even at 4-6x speed it still wasn't fast enough.

Final thoughts.

Wow, some of the stuff here was painfully close to me. Especially the plots about losing loved ones. Dropped the ball on a few bits, and some character development seemed more implied than seen, but otherwise I think I enjoyed it.

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This was a treat to watch. The leads were gorgeous, the story was perfectly angsty and a small cast and limited places made the film feel lovely!

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This was weird but I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. I barely understood it, but I really liked the strange parallels and vague disjointedness of certain bits put together.

Final thoughts!

All for the sake of torturing ViolinGal for the C5hallenge... this was worth it, but only by a small margin.

Final thoughts TwT :clown:

Final thoughts

The most meh film I've ever seen, almost infuriatingly so considering the promising start!

So different to the above, and I watched both on the 3rd April with the only break I took being to write the review of Coming Soon! This was definitely not meh.

Final thoughts!

This was beautiful. 10/10 if it wasn't for my nagging issues.

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I LOVED IT! My 3rd 10/10 this year, and of 26 titles! Kimutaku and Shibasaki Ko are my biases though, so I shouldn't be surprised, but it was better than I expected, and I expected to love it!

Final thoughts!

Final thoughts!

This one dropped the ball in the latter half which is really unfortunate, but it was beautiful. The music was impressive almost all the time.

End of ep 2 notes about the squeaky music which means I won't rate music 10.

Thoughts at the end of ep 10

Mini final thoughts on rating

Final thoughts - very long!

Final thoughts!

Quite fun, and while I intially thought it would be a contender for my dramas to rewatch, I think it doesn't quite stay there by the end.

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Argh!!! The chemistry was good, the acting was great, but the plot and certain characters were really frustrating. 

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SPOILER IN THE NOTE BELOW!

NOTE: This is a slap/kiss. I hear that there are some which DON'T feature rape, but this one does unfortuntately, although ML does feel remorse even if he isn't punished.

So cute, and I love the leads' smiles. Simple, low energy watch, which was perfect to perk up my mood! No sinister plots, low stakes plot overall, and very fluffy and high on hugs/skinship! ;) Thank you jujubes for the rec! <3

I'm going on a gut feeling because it's been a while since I watched it! I loved it, pure fluff, and in a less optimal mood it truly cheered me up! I liked the little opening dance and music overall, so I'd give it 8.5!

Don't question anything, pay attention to the subs and enjoy the body horror!

Final thoughts!

Final thoughts - Lovely little special that helped me get in the mood to speed binge IPYTM! The colours and the cinematography were beautiful, and the music never missed as expected!

I had thoughts, but I'll have to search for those at another time. I liked it though, probably because I know a few people similar to both leads and so can feel for their situation.

Final thoughts - coming soon if I remember!

Thank you torture clowns for putting me through this. The clowns to blame for dragging me into this are crafty and kate (with the lowercase "k" - xulansis) but I can only remember Yim's frustrating voice and his on screen sister's references to PiXXiE in the last 2 episodes (WHO IS PLAYED BY A MEMBER OF PiXXiE!!!) - they're a girl group I absolutely LOVE! It was painful to get through but the company made it kinda fun! Torture Tuesdays will definitely be a thing I join once again after exams!

Final thoughts - maybe I'll add those soon if I can be bothered.

Far too skippable. I dropped it for a reason. 0.5/10, only worth it for the last minute PiXXiE references.

The first drama in a while that I willingly binged all the way through! I've recently struggled to focus on one title for an extended period of time but this one allowed me to lose track of time and watch it all the way through in less than 2 days! 

10/10 for the whole thing, and I can't think of anything I disliked that wasn't the character actions, and the whole point was that humans aren't lovely despite being in/around school.

Final thoughts - summarised above in case I don't get round to writing them up!

So so fun! This is one which defo needs more watchers!!!

Final thoughts!

Super fun - and I never knew I needed to see these couples!

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Loved it! Binged on a whim, and it was the first thing that managed to keep my attention for more than a few minutes after finishing Ploy's Yearbook more than a week ago!

This is my second title from the Philippines but my first drama from there. The show page now shows SK as the country, so I guess I'll just feel like a clown here while insisting I started it because of the country being the Philippines. Perhaps I thought there was a lot more Filipino/English than Korean, but then again the native title is Korean so I'll take this one as an unintentional K drama down and shut up. and perhaps I'll push "Vince & Kath & James" up on my PTW priority list as I really enjoyed Julia Barretto's performance here! Perhaps it was the fact they were speaking English the whole time, so I could notice more, but I think Julia was defo the stronger actor, but not enough to carry the whole show. ML's lines occasionally seemed to fall a bit short emotionally. However, I won't hold that against Lee Sang Heon bc from searching it seems he's a new actor, and to his credit the final monologue/letter was beautiful!

Story: 7; Acting: 7; Music: 6 (it wasn't awful, but it was only notable at one point); Overall: 7!

Final thoughts - above in case I don't write up a post.

Extremely good for a short drama - far better than I'd expected! I really liked it and I'll echo what I was told: DON'T LOOK AT SPOILERS! As someone who actively seeks out spoilers, I promise I think the experience is way better when you don't know anything beforehand!

Story: 8; Acting: 8; Music: 9; Overall: 8.5!

Fianl thoughts - summarised above!

I'll preface by saying I LOVED IT! It was the perfect short show to watch in exam season (to be fair, I only dare watch something before an easy exam) so despite the drawbacks which lead me to rate it low, it is NOT in the same league as some other shows I've rated similarly in terms of enjoyment! 

This was a wild ride, as most short C dramas are. I'd love to be a bit objective, so I'll say that the drama is generous with the airy fairy and slow motion scenes. Like someone walking up the stairs sadly was extended so much and with 4x speed still was slow! In fact, once they do the slow motion, it's STILL slow motion when I watch it with 4x speed! 

And the throwing around. Mate, the poor FL did not need to be dragged around and picked up onto the desk like that (though to ML's credit, he does seem to be extra careful, which seems comic when his character is so pissed).

However, I LOVE the leads! FL isn't extremely stupid as is universally lamented about shows to this day, and I really like her expressions when she's plotting and just generally! She's smart and pretty, and her outfits are to die for! ML is - in the most respectful way - absolutely smokin' hot (in the most exaggerated American accent I can muster). He reminded me a bit of Wang Ziyi in Why Women Love for some reason, more because of how he feels like a lost/hopeless puppy when he's in love. He seemed really sincere so I liked it, although his pkots wre quite foolish at times lol!

Story: 6; Acting: 7; Music: 4 - music wasn't notable so usually would be a 5, but I'm including the slow mo and general extra airy fairy deductions here. I don't mind the airy fairy something all over the place like The Lost World, but I was taking it seriously so ; Overall: 6!

I loved this one! Perfectly intriguing - I only wish we'd got more time to unfold the whole plot because 18 (8 on Viki) episodes were not enough. The main couple were wonderful, and the main women are actors I'll look out for in future because their acting was especially notable! Whether the ML's advisor, the maid, or even the villain, I enjoyed every performance here. Decent acting is a pleasant surprise in a mini-drama, but these actors were incredible, and I can't find fault with them. 

Despite it clearly being low budget, I still liked the show, and only wish this was a little longer to end it more smoothly. The musical score was beautiful, and the sets and outfits were beautiful.

Story: 8; Acting: 9; Music: 9; Overall: 9!

Chaotic, but surprisingly hilarious. The dodgy CGI was my first warning to stay away and yet I was too curious. One lead is broody and didn't get enough chance to act until the later episodes and the other was far too chaotic but had some decent acting moments.

Story was theoretically the same old transmigrating into a novel and a lot of people compare it to SVSSS (I think that's the right number of "s"es lol!) but it didn't hugely stand out. Perhaps I'll remember it for the sheep SFX (yes, sheep, not horses). 

The bromance was so censored that I didn't really suspect until the end that it might be a censored romance. MDL tags tell me that it was one, so I guess if I watch the sequel I'll squint and see if I can feel the romance. However, this is the first censored BL I've completed from China sso I'll allow it. (Technically I've partly watched The Untamed and Word of Honour although I'd already read the novel for the former and the latter wasn't exactly discreet)

Story: 6; Acting: 7; Production/music: 6 (including visual effects); Overall: 6!

Solid for a beginner director. Was pretty funny at points, and I didn't realise I wrote my ratings in my title notes rather than adding it here after I marked it complete :clown:

Saw the comments saying there wasn't much plot and lots of fluff and that was kinda what I needed after the first 2 episodes of Project S: Skate Our Souls. It was essentially what they ate, with a few bits of plot and mentions of life outside their share house scattered around to garnish the film.

I won't hold them to the same standards, but throughout the film I kept thinking of Tsukutabe, but the food tag here is substituted for a comedy genre. I usually enjoy characters like Aki but I wasn't quite enamoured by him at the start.

Story: 6.5; Acting: 7; Music: 5 (not notable); Overall: 6.5, rounding up for the simple enjoyment of something that was pure fluff with low stakes conflict.

Cooking and Tpop, a combo I didn't think I'd like this much. Can't gather thoughts currently for anything recently finished so I'll leave the rating for later. I find the ending voiceover for that specific cameo hilarious though!

Before I forget, I appreciate Aun here, even if his character often wasn't my favourite.

Final rating is 8, because despite frustrating moments, I also could kinda get why some characters acted the way they did, and acting was solid, with some lovely soundtracks!

I was hooked. For a short C drama it was spectacular, with decent plot and super satisfying moments! I'd give it somewhere between 7 and 8, so let me ask the wheel real quick to decide for me!

8.5 is subjective gut rating, no criteria pulled out here. Loved the acting from both leads!

Through this whole year, I've been saying I'm gonna rewatch a drama. My sights were set on Why Women Love. (I realise now I rewatched >=75 C with @flamingo over 4 months ago from message timestamps but forgot to add it here TwT)

But on the evening of the 22nd of July I decided to rewatch this on a whim. So here's my first second(!) rewatch of the year. Objectively, it pisses me off through so many character actions. Subjectively, it was my second K drama (after Pinocchio, which gets the honour of being the first) and so it always resides in a special corner of my heart! I wonder if this is my second or third rewatch? Doesn't really matter, because it's one that will count for my MDL challenge!

A 10 from when I first joined for the pure sentimental value like Pinocchio, regardless of any objective shortcomings that could be argued. I still note that I adore the soundtrack though and where the lighting isn't extremely bright there's a few moments I note and remember!

I wouldn't be able to rerate it less biased now, so it stays the 10/10. XD

I am extremely biased towards Sheng Wei, so obviously had to throw a gut rating out there!

This rises above the other short films/dramas I've seen with small budgets! Lovely, but I think 9.5 might have been for some effects I wasn't a fan of.  Rated overall!

Act 2 of 3!  Rated overall!

Act 3 of 3! Rated overall!

Rewatch 3 of the year, and I'm currently rewatching Why Women Love too so expect that to appear on this list if I remember to continue it!

This rewatch in a lighter space in my house has actually made me pick up on a very dodgy thing which I severely side eye Togawa for. I didn't realise what actually happened in my first watch and first rewatch because both were with pretty bad earphones and dark places. I can't remember what the 0.5 docked was for, but I suspect it was partly for the short length and some scenes with iffy lighting and for another iffy thing . However, this detail I've just clocked tempts me to dock another 0.5 to give it a 9. But I'll leave it, since it's a rewatch.

The soundtrack was a sound for sore ears, and I adore it truly! I need those instrumentals on Spotify pronto!

In tears because of this. Beautiful, and so worth the watch! I'm glad the MDL challenge led me to discover this!

Final thoughts!

Did I side eye? A lot. Not as much as some shows. But will it be a drama if there's not a dragged out misunderstanding that drives you nuts?!?!?!? Nope. Having said that, I did really like the leads' acting, with YU especially standing out to me. But perhaps I appreciated his character's change through the show.

I wanna say acting was an 8, music was defo a hit or miss for me, since some transitions felt jarring or just plain bizarre. Plot itself felt perfectly typical, kinda predictable, but the characters made it work. I'll give it a 7.5, but I've objectively rated things 6.5 and absolutely love them!

A solid sequel of the first, which was more a continuation of plots hinted at in the first season (that slap sheesh!) and was enjoyable! I think I could've done with more time to get attached to the other couples, but I'm not particularly bothered by that. I vibed with the music more here, and after searching the OST I discovered that YU (Shu Yi's actor) actually sings one of my favourite songs on the soundtrack!

So with a lot of bias, I'm giving it an 8.

On a side note: if only the MDL challenge also had a category for shows where a lead actor sings a song, not just the Thai Watch Challenge!

This was so beautiful. Well worth the watch, and has got a 10 from me quite easily!

Decent plot and acting, and I feel like the music was one thing I liked. The friend (was it Man chan?) was absolutely GORGEOUS in bold italic caps!!! It was silly at times, and not the radioactive level of toxic I'd expected.

5th least favourite by Amarina! 

This was so damn silly, and pretty bad. You'd think some of the stereotypes were things long past by 2017, but apparently not if you watch this. Just don't watch it. The above average score is for the fun closing sequence and kinda endearing friend group.

Final thoughts!

Still processing. But the music made me very nauseous, so perhaps that's one thing I can say for sure. Just remembering it now (28th August 24) makes me feel sick all over again.

This was damn good! I genuinely was surprised at how well it built up especially with an unreliable narrator for pretty much over half the show. If I hadn't been told by a friend it gets better and we switch to the other narrator I'd have never watched it.

The closing song - Follow by Rosu - is lyrically perfect for the drama!

The music was fun here, and the opening sequence was quite nice! I loved Anna, and she was introduced here!

Guys, I wrote a long arse review and then my laptop restarted on me and NONE OF IT WAS SAVED. But at least I feel better about ranting, even if I can now cut it down! SPOILERS BELOW!

If you told me I wouldn't rate this a 10 anywhere before I watched episode 10, I'd have laughed! But my issues summarised are effects and characterisation. I feel some of the effects, especially the light and blur - was a bit too much especially in the start. But that's an issue I've found with other GMMTV shows too, not just a 23.5 issue. I ranted also about the characterisation of the leads, and how Sun's compassion and understanding over roughly 9 episodes should have meant she'd warn Ongsa that her parent knew of their relationship, and said traits would mean Sun wouldn't out 3 people including Ongsa in front of Ongsa's parents. Also, Sun doesn't eventually apologise for the outing specifcally and Ongsa has to apologise for not wanting to come out yet. It ends well because it's the show, but I've heard that Ongsa's mum in the novel was kinda homophobic. Then the anxious and insecure Ongsa goes beserk in episode 11 with behaviour that even a 16 year old should know is concerning after a break up. Like screaming off the roof that there's only one sun left and lots of things that the timid and insecure Ongsa didn't seem capable of. Hence, my issues with inconsistent characterisation by the end, since both act stupidly like teenagers can do, but it was so OOC from what the show initially portrayed them as. I figure this was another victim of GMMTV's "fall-off-at-the-end-itis", but it was going so well from the start!

Final thoughts! Long story short, it's living right by TsukuTabe in my heart, for all the same reasons, which is the highest praise I can give.

Plot was relatively interesting, but I don't think the acting was always on point. The music was eh.

Story: 8; Acting: 7; Music: 6

Lower rating because it was less of a novelty this time watching. Still fun to watch, and much darker/gorier than S1

Meh. It started off interesting, and it was chock full of nostalgic cliches that didn't feel painful to watch. But the music drove me nuts, about 85% of the way to "I LOOOOVE YOUUUUU" level of nuts (from Descendants of the Sun). I am making that my permanent scale until a song more annoying comes around.

Story: 7 - perfectly cliche, but the characters kinda made up for it.
Acting: 7? idk wasn't particularly notable, but wasn't awful
Music: 5, because although I LOVE Ai Yufan's voice, the overusage of her song(s) (mainly the "I do" one) fucking drove me nuts. 6.5, but compared to some of my other 6.5 ratings, I don't love or hate it.

A perfect end to the series, and I'm glad there was growth and that we also saw Anna's story bc I loved her in S2!

I'm reserving judgement till I finish the rest, because this really feels like one that will make more sense to rate as a whole franchise. Otherwise, it wouldn't be getting a high rating as a unit mainly because of the story.

Another day, another title I really liked getting a 6.5. This is because the lighting sound at times felt iffy, but perhaps I was being sensitive idk.

Eh. This one conflicts me, because it's teacher-student, but I initially had less issues since they meet before Prof Shi starts covering the Fei's class. The age is eek though, and I was blissfully aware that Fei was supposed to be 19 until they kept mentioning it later on, since I fully thought he was much older.

Like Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoshi, I feel obliged to rate it more objectively, excluding my own personal issues with the genre and age gap, since for this specific one I didn't pay too much attention to the premise before diving in. But even ignoring that, it's not great. The music was often horrid, even when I found a better copy than the free YT version which has the music stripped at some points (and very inconsistently too) and the plot is only mildly memorable. Perhaps my favourite acting performance was from the kid, and that says a lot because her acting occasionally felt forced. The positives lie in the smaller details, like comedic or warm moments with supporting characters, or Shi Yi Jie changing for his daughter, or said character also stopping Fei Sheng Zhe from his stupid self destructive ways on occasion.

Overall, I did get told it was relatively fluffy, and it is a slice of life so the plot having relatively little to it makes sense. Did it do the job of giving me a smile? Yes, especially because of the kid. Was it high stakes and stressful? Not particularly for the most part, despite the drama tag.

So I'll rate it like this. Story: 5.5; Acting: 6; Music: 5; Average: 5.5; Overall: 6, and that is truly pushing it in my books, but I'll allow it for the light mood of the show in general when you ignored the character backstories.

Loved it!!! Aom and Tina look so different.

Story: 8; Acting: 7; Music: 7; Overall: 7.5

Episode "0", which was included in the playlist I found. Same rating as the whole show, because I considered it part of the whole show!

I am soft for food slice of life romances! You can probably see this from the number of titles on my list that fit this category, with sometimes only a genre or two different!

I highly appreciate them getting actors who are actually well-suited irl for the characters - I was in awe when I found out that Gameplay went to Cordon Bleu(!!!!) and Jeff can actually sing and play guitar! The acting was mostly alright, but it's not perfect, and there were a good few moments where Jeff looked like he was about to laugh (which is fair enough, I was laughing at Win a lot of the time too!) The plot was lovely and simple, as you'd expect from a slice of life, and the comfortable vibes of the show which was mostly set in the shared house.

Story: 9; Acting: 7; Music: 8; Cinematography/Effects: 6; Overall: 8

Final thoughts!

Watched it because of Honda Kyoya. I genuinely don't think anything will beat his styling in AyaHiro, but his character is pretty fun here. My stand out was Suzuki Airi though, and I love how expressive and enthusiastic she was! She genuinely looked tired rather than looking glam at the start of the show, and she was such a relatable character! 

Was a decent watch but the slowness at times or wasted time kinda drags my score down. OSTs were nice though, with one song particularly standing out, which happens to have the same name as the opening of the above drama XD - "palette"

5 ep in rant

13 ep in rant

Final thoughts!

Sammon and TV Thunder - was it really hard to rate this one? I'm sure Petrichor will be the same rating, but we'll see XD

A fun little special, with nothing huge added to the show. Got to see more Honda Kyoya and Suzuki Airi, as well as all the supporting characters I'd grown to love over the course of Animals!

Final thoughts!