I had to take a few days to wrap my head around this movie, and I am still trying to figure everything out. What I do know though is that I loved this movie. It was dark, gory, and had a plot that kept you on your toes trying to figure out what was real and what was a dream.

I didn't so much like the side story with Soo Mi, Hye Jung's aunt, and the female shaman, as I did not get their purpose other than to piece together a story on their end that Hye Jung was trying to figure out on her own. I also didn't like how Hye Jung knew why she was in Wonderland but waited until the very last day to feel motivated enough to go into the 5th room, knowing that she had a key from the very beginning.

It was very simple and I liked how the story gave you all the hints of Hye Jung's missing past, but for some reason, Hye Jung felt like she wanted to be angsty and not question anything that was happening at the inn. But other than my strong dislike for Hye Jung, I felt bad for her and her "curse" due to how her family decided they wanted to deal with the traumatic event that happened when she was younger.

As for the BIG question, everyone is debating about in the comments section about Hye Jung and Hwan's relationship...I have no answer. The thing about this movie was that the writer/director played out scenes, but not completely and fully, where you felt that you were missing some information and it was up to the viewer to connect their own dots. I liked this....but also didn't because I never knew if I was missing important pieces. It did make it a lot more sinister and mysterious and harder to figure out what was real and what was a dream.

My thoughts? I felt like none of it was a dream and it was all real, just scrambled up. But what I do know is that I really enjoyed Hong Jong Hyun playing Hwan. It almost felt like he was a safe zone or an object of comfort in this hellish house....which explains a lot about who he is at the end, which made me love his character so much more. The actress who played Soo Ryun, I applaud you. Amazing acting. Everything one...meh.

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I ultimately decided on a 3.5/5 star rating for this show because this show made me feel a lot of things. I HATED Lei Lei and Liu Xiao Fen at 17 and 30, even when they realized that they were wrong and were at fault, I still didn't care for them. I loved Peter because he wanted to protect Ai Li Si from everything in her past that gave her pain, even if it meant getting revenge on Lei Lei. I loved Ho Hao Yi and his dedication. Once reunited with her, he wouldn't let go of her. He promised that he wouldn't run away again and put 100% of his trust in her. That 13 years away from her was karma for him not showing up at 17. A little extreme, but homeboy was dedicated and knew that she was his only true love and he always known about it, but realized it a few hours too late at 17.I loved Ai Li Si, even though she tested me throughout the series, but I loved her character development and it made her pain feel that much more real. She was in a 13 year debate with herself, not knowing who she should be and if she should trust anyone. I felt her pain and let me tell you, it made this drama super emotional and hard to watch. Plus, that ending had me and my roommate ugly crying in our new apartment. I couldn't give this drama a 5 simply because each episode felt like 3 hours, and I am not sure if I was ever supposed to "feel" for Lei Lei and her struggles, but I didn't. I felt like it glorified Lei Lei and Liu Xiao Fen after they learned about Ai Li Si's past, and honestly, they were just horrible people. If they had a little bit of respect and faith in their friendship with Ai Li Si, none of this would have happened.

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WOW.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but anything I was thinking did not give the appropriate amount of credit that was due for this masterpiece. It had everything I enjoyed as a viewer, as I am a huge fan of intense, life-or-death decision making shows and movies.

And I believe anything I write in this review will not give the drama any justice. I know Japan goes hard with their dramas, but this was something completely different and probably one of my all-time TOP dramas of 2020.

If you haven't watched it yet - DO IT.

I think this was perfect and super intense, BUT around the time when the characters arrived at The Beach, and the different groups were introduced, we are introduced to Niragi Suguru. I thought who is the wild character. Oh...wait...is that my Jdrama husband, Sakurada Dori? Yep. And I knew that I would not only love this drama, but it added a level of comedy, which is oddly bizarre to say, but once I knew Dori was this psychopath, I kept thinking about all his other roles and the contrast. Other than that, all characters had this likeability as well as this humanity in them that made them not perfect. I did appreciate that both "Alice" & "Rabbit" (cause apparently Arisu & Yuzuha had nicknames) were badass characters.

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Either Love It or Hate It

This drama was one of my most anticipated 2020 watches as well as around the time I started watching this, I started getting really into Ji Chang Wook, so I had some really high standards for this drama. Especially when web dramas have been doing extremely well recently. I was honestly a little skeptical because I kept hearing how different episodes and scenes kept getting into trouble where people started to petition to get it off the air. I also read different reviews of people who either loved it or hated it.

My honest thoughts (given you already saw what I gave this drama):

I thought it was extremely quirky and refreshing. I loved it. It was a cute "love" story between two people Dae Hyun and Saet Byul, and there love for one another and their cute little convenience store. It started off like a typical kdrama where Saet Byul has a hidden agenda to get Dae Hyun to like her (of course they have a past), but Dae Hyun thinking she is this irresponsible and immature child who solves everything with violence. Which was really annoying in the beginning and it made me dislike Dae Hyun, but it also made it so much better when Saet Byul proved him wrong and made him realize that you can't have prejudices of other people. But every character had their "flaws." But going off that, and the reason why I loved this drama was that in a regular drama, where Yoo Yeon Ju lived in, a flaw came with a negative connotation. Whereas Saet Byul had this quirky personality where she knew she wasn't perfect, and if anything, her flaws were what made her unique. She didn't see her imperfections as something bad, and she so desperately wanted to share that message and self-love to the people around her, especially Dae Hyun, who thought that if something didn't work out, it was because he did something wrong.

You can definitely tell that this drama was written as a webtoon vs in a drawing room with a production company wanting to come out with the next cookie-cutter drama. I felt like each character was extremely relatable and I really couldn't dislike anyone. Including Yoo Yeon Joo. She wasn't the best girlfriend in the world and to be honest, a bit selfish, but she was relatable where she was so stuck believing that she was a victim in her own life, that she did what she thought would make her happy which caused others to suffer.

I loved the quirky romance between the mains - I loved that when they were together, they embraced each other fully and built each other up. They built on one anthers' aspirations and goals they already held for themselves. And it was refreshing. Lightweight, I don't think either one of the main characters went through any character development (as in a normal drama, we have the stuck up heiress who learns to become down to earth) and it was ok. These characters knew self-love from the beginning and this 15 episode drama was about these people who loved their flaws finding their tribe.

Now for the few things that I didn't like about the drama which made me drop it .5 from a perfect score. Even after saying that this drama was about people finding their tribe, I honestly wish that we got more Saet Byul and Dae Hyun romance. Normally, I don't have an issue with this type of drama, but I wasn't super pumped and felt a bit cheated when we got a drama where you had to wait for the characters to finally kiss in the last episode. Given, we finally got a little bit of romance in the final few episodes, but it felt a little bit minimal. Shoot...we could have taken out the whole Dae Hyun parent drama plot they randomly added, that was unnecessary. But of what he got, was really good, that I wish we got more ramyeon dates with them.

Then, of course, the BIGGEST reason why I dropped it .5 was because of the age difference. I've seen a few dramas with an age difference that never bothered me before, but this one made me feel uncomfortable because of a flashback they included. In this scene when they met, even further in the past than what we see in episode one, we have a younger actress cast as Saet Byul, and Ji Chang Wook still cast as himself, but with fluffier hair to make him seem younger....and without saying what happened in this scene...it made me feel super uncomfortable knowing this was the moment that Saet Byul fell for him, and it made him look like a pedophile. Like...you couldn't cast anyone else? I know it was supposed to show the age difference between the two characters, but it lightweight made me feel uncomfortable.

But other than that, I loved the quirky fighting scenes, all the relationships grow, and Puppy (Kang Ji Wook) who honestly was also a perfect love interest. I am so sick of always getting second lead syndrome especially when actor Kim Min Kyu is always so cute and perfect. I makes me want to find and watch a drama he is in where he finally gets the girl.

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I've always known about this drama because of my love for Nam Joo Hyuk, but I finally decided to finally give it a go because Netflix decided it wanted to add it and recommend it to me. I've always been curious to see him in another drama and I don't think my heart could take watching him in "The Light in Your Eyes" yet.

What did I think? That's hard to answer. I knew what I was getting myself into when little clips popped up on my instagram of Habaek saving Yoon So Ah from being pushed off a building. I knew that the CGI would be very rough, but sometimes you just need to accept this is what you are going to get if you want to watch a drama about nature Gods using their powers. I also read the comments and other reviews before writing this, and saw many negative reviews. But honestly, it was very meh to me. I didn't hate it, but I also wasn't in love with it.

One thing I loved about it was the costumes whenever we got to see "flashbacks" of Habaek's world. It did seem a little "low budget" but taking it for what it was, I loved the make up. Plus Habaek had some hair goals with this perfect blue ash ombre that I only wish my hairdresser could give me that wouldn't last only the first couple of days of getting it done. I loved the relationships that Yoon So Ah built with other people such as her relationship with CEO Shin Hoo Ye. Even though there was this weird plot with them, I felt like they had the most emotional relationship out of anyone in this drama. Given, I wasn't a fan of Yoon So Ah and it made it hard for me to root for her in any kind of way, she was always there for Hoo Ye and never believed in other people's prejudices of him . That being said, I think Hoo Ye was my favorite character in this drama. I liked how his fate was that he had good and evil in him and how based on his actions, he could choose which direction he wanted to go. He had to go through a lot of hardships because of who he was and was never accepted anywhere. He was always trying to make himself the perfect person, thinking that people would love him based on his actions and not what he wasn't able to control from his past. From the moment we met him, I knew that he would be the "antagonist" because we were told that all Gods were good and their enemies were our enemies, but I liked how the more Hahaek was with So Ah, the more he stopped acting on impulse like the other Gods, and actually took a step back to think about what he truly thought. I liked how he only really didn't like Hoo Ye because he was trying to win So Ah's love, and not because of the prejudices that other people had labeled him as.

Now going off all of that, I mainly did not like his drama because of the characters. Yes, we get the whole drama troupe with the main characters being these unlikable characters, but when they meet and start to realize how their actions effect other people, they start to change. But in this case, I feel like not a lot of characters went through that change. We have So Ah who's job it is the help people with their struggles, but we find out that because of So Ah's past that she hides her compassion for other people with anger because she basically has daddy issues. She believes in hard work will pay the bills, but she also thinks her misfortune isn't her fault. She is a good psychiatrist, which we see in her scenes with Hoo Ye, but for some reason she decides on performing just ok with her patients because she doesn't want to come off compassionate. It's weird. I don't understand it. She was a VERY wish washy person and had no idea why everyone was so in love with her. Yes, she was sassy which made her funny, but homegirl could not make up her mind to save her life. Or when she finally was able to make up her mind, she would do the opposite and then we would go through another, "what should I do?" moment. It was very repetitive and got boring real quick.
Habaek was alright - he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and didn't know anything outside his world and powers so it was a given he would be entitled and sassy and bossy. And he was a little irritating in the beginning, but he always wore his heart on his sleeve, even though he always had a bored look on his face, just staring into your soul. I felt bad for him, and he is probs my second favorite character in this whole drama. I didn't agree with most of his actions and his jealousy was NOT NEEDED because he took it to another level, but he was always honest and always fought for what he wanted. Plus, I liked how he didn't have prejudices against anyone and based his feelings toward someone based on their actions.
I think the REAL antagonists in this drama were the God of Sky and the Goddess of Water; Ahn Bin and Mura. Given that Ahn Bin was the god of mischief, we knew he was going to create some chaos, but it was still weird seeing how these two and Habaek grew up together, yet, they all turned out to be completely different people how they handled situations. Ahn Bin loved to create chaos and had zero limit to what he would do to get revenge. Mura is the same way, but she is very by the book and would take her revenge by finding loopholes. Both would act solely on emotions and created unneeded chaos for other people. Given, when we find out why Ahn Bin is terrorizing Hoo Ye, it starts to make sense, but he refuses to tell no one why he was doing what he was doing, and it honestly made himself look like the villain. I liked Ahn Bin in the beginning because he was fun and playful and added a element of excitement in the boring lifes of So Ah and Habaek, but he honestly was kind of this terrible person (both him and Mura) who got away with everything and I cared zero about their love story. He would have been the sole reason why Hoo Ye would have chosen the path of evil. Then there were a lot of oddly unnecessary side characters such as Shin Ja Ya who should have just gotten a few scenes in the beginning of the drama to introduce the audience to So Ah's past and insecurities, and then should have been cut.

This drama seemed to never really be building up to the huge climax - there were many mini climaxes in which we thought were going to be the big turning points, but weren't. For example, Hoo Yee's fate of becoming good or evil and coming off as the drama's antagonist, seemed like it was going to be this huge thing, with possibly this huge final battle where So Ahn would swoop in and tell him to take the path of good and not evil and then it would be the end of the drama and everyone lives happily ever after. That was not the case. That whole thing got resolved somewhere in the middle. The big climax, that wasn't really big at all, seemed to happen all at once in the final episode, which I will give props for being extremely emotional. Way more emotional that the rest of the drama. The ending was good though, very generic happily ever after that made me happy for So Ahn and Habaek, but also a little sad for Habaek as well. I just don't understand why they couldn't just give everyone immortality, but I guess it is a lot to ask for.

Final thoughts, I think this drama is worth the watch if you have some time to kill and want to watch something different and you love Nam Joo Hyuk. If you can get past the CGI, the drama is totally fine. The ONE thing I will say though is the writing or maybe it was the Netflix translation, was so odd. Whenever the main characters had heart to heart arguments, which was often, I never really understood what they were talking about or trying to say. They would jump to 50 different points and talk about 50 reasons why something wasn't possible with situations that never applied...but you just assume they were breaking up because she had daddy issues? There were so many times I had to backtrack and rewatch scenes to figure out if I am just a slow reader and missed something, or if the translation just didn't make sense.

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I enjoyed how in the beginning it was light, silly, and just over the top funny. I always found myself cracking up at Zero Nine because he was like a puppy and kid rolled up into the body of a twenty-something year old man. The actor did an amazing job playing Zero Nine; even towards the middle where he is developing human emotions/understanding human emotions, you can still tell that he is a robot. I loved this because even though his character turned more human compared to the cute boyfriend robot from the beginning, the actor and director kept Zero Nine's initial robot quirks there. It was the attention to detail with his character that made this drama for me.
On the other hand, you have the other characters. I did love the romance between these two mains, and the ending made me ugly cry, but something just didn't sit well. I 100% felt the love that Zero Nine had for DaDa. It was DaDa I didn't quite understand. One day she just pulled a 180 and loved him with 100% of her heart, which is way more than we saw with the flashbacks of her and Ma Wang Joon. Maybe it is just me, but I don't believe the whole 180 turn. I don't buy it in real life and I don't buy it in dramas.
Then we have Ma Wang Joon. I do think he was a terrible boyfriend in the beginning and yes, she needed to dump him. I think there were two main things I disliked - 1) how he knew he was distancing himself from her for years and didn't care enough for her to treat her better and 2) how he thought their relationship was solely him making the decisions when he should have been communicating with her. After they broke up, I think it was just pure jealousy that she had met someone the complete opposite of him. I truly believe that their relationship was over a long time ago, and he only went after her to prove something to himself. And that is another thing I wasn't convinced with Zero Nine and DaDa's relationship - Zero Nine was the exact opposite of what Ma Wang Joon, all the things she wanted from Ma Wang Joon, was what Zero Nine thrived in. It makes me question DaDa. I read a lot of reviews before writing this one about Ma Wang Joon , and a lot of people pointed him the true villain in this drama, but I'd have to disagree. Yes, I thought he was a crappy boyfriend and person at times, but I also saw Ma Wang Joon's love for DaDa. Yes, I HATED when he blew up on both mains and basically dug himself deeper, but there were other times when he acted as a big brother, knowing that he saw how much he had hurt DaDa in the past and he doesn't want anyone else to make her feel that way again. He went about it in terrible ways, but the intention was there. I don't think I could hate him at the end of everything. He definitely needs to do some growing up.
The one person I disliked would have to be Diana. I loved how she was just this heiress who hates people and decides to make everyone's life miserable for no reason except for her own pleasure, but that's all she was. I thought she was going to have some kind of consequence or this huge redemption, but no. She literally was destroying robot after robot and stealing company property, and all she got out of it was she was put on the banned list. Like she has done so much that she could be sued for millions or in jail, but no. Also, she basically messed with Zero Nine and DaDa's relationship, especially towards the end which I will not say, and she did nothing to fix it. She apologized and then went away. She basically had enough money to spare to help out the situation, but she literally just left. They made you think that she was going to have this huge impact at the end and save the day - nope.

Overall, I feel like some characters lacked while others shined in this regardless if there were good or bad people. If you want to watch a drama (that dragged in the middle) that will make you laugh at Zero Nine's adorableness in the beginning, and then ugly cry in the last 5 episodes, this is the drama to watch.
I stand by my rating of 9/10 - I loved Zero Nine throughout. He was the perfect boyfriend. I loved how cheeky and cute he was in the beginning, thinking that puppy love was love. I also loved as he started to understand others and what true love was, he turned from an adorable puppy who was ok with a one-sided love to this sensual and emotional person who also wanted to be loved. I feel like he was the one who struggled the most emotionally in this drama which is wild cause he is the robot. If you are iffy about this drama, I think Zero Nine's cute puppy attitude in the beginning and then all the emotional scenes in the last few episodes are 100% worth the watch. You will have to go through all the filler BS in the middle, but it is worth it to ugly cry at the end. Wild that a robot that learned what love was from a human was able to understand what love was, better than anyone in this damn drama. Understood what sacrifices you had to make and were willing to make for the person you love.

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I think I am almost scared to even write anything about this drama due to all the negative comments and the back and forth arguments between people who liked the drama vs the people who were disgusted. And before I even go into this review, I want to put a disclaimer - I am not romanticizing domestic violence. I do not think it is okay. I wish we lived in a world where men and women were treated as complete equals and wouldn't lay a hand on one another in a negative manner, but unfortunately, it happens.

When I first started watching this, I kept watching it because the drama came off very nostalgic - it reminded me of old dramas I used to watch as a child (now realizing that they were mostly Australian shows) such as the Saddle Club and H2O. It had that very sitcom reality tv feel. I also kept watching it because Push Puttichai Kasetsin who played Sibtis was very attractive and looked like a combination of JHOPE (BTS), Ji Chang-wook, but mostly a young Aaron Yan. He nailed Aaron Yan's arrogant demeanor when he acts.

I liked the whole childhood first loves, but then separated for 10 years, to reunite and fall in love again. But as we went more into the drama, I got the same vibes I got fromThe Saddle Club, but I also got a kind of intensity like when I first started watching Korean Dramas, and watched Boys Over Flowers for the first time. If you want to watch a drama about a "bad boy" who has to hit ABSOLUTE rock bottom for him to realize he is a piece of shit, and needs to completely change, this is the drama for you. And the lead actor did an amazing job becoming this piece of shit character that reminds me why I personally have trust issues. I loved his sweet and smooth taking side, who was playful and acted as that big brother figure. But I HATED his playboy side who was possessive, sexist, two-faced and always seeking attention. Every time he attempted to make a pinky promise with Prikkang, it broke my heart. He seemed so genuine that I am not surprised that she gave him a few chances. He genuinely wanted to be that man for her, but I also believe that he loved the playboy life more. I think that we would have a different view on him if we learned how and why he became this way. Shoot, even in the movie/ book series AFTER, we get a backstory of Hardin. But I also believe that regardless if we got that backstory or not, it doesn't excuse him for being an abusive drunk.

I also believe that this drama wasn't romanticizing domestic violence, even though everyone was acting like it was a normal everyday thing. It made me think about different cultures and what some people might think is acceptable while others don't. I am not saying that I believe Thailand thinks domestic violence is acceptable, but it reminded me of my anthropology, religion, and gender role studies when I learned about different societies around the world where women had zero power (and some societies where women had complete power, while men had zero). This drama also "tackled" a very complicated subject that is uncomfortable to some people, while not to others. I did like how there was some representation of domestic violence as we normally don't see that in this cutesy romance shows. I liked that it was included to tell this story of this couple who's relationship wasn't this typical cutesy sunshine and rainbows first love. It was a story about two people who were each other's first loves, who went through REALLY LOW lows with one another, finding out who they were and who they want to be.

I am an "emotional" drama watcher and reviewer - I typically give good scores to shows and movies that make me feel any kind of way, either it being absolute happiness or complete dread. That tells me, as a watcher, that the writer, director, producer, etc are doing their job and doing it well. This drama made me feel complete disappointment in the male lead. It made me think about different cultures and their viewpoints on gender (can we take a second to talk about how Prikkang was always at fault not only because of her age but also because of her gender. She lacked a bit of responsibility, but she was the least worst person in this drama). This drama also opened up a conversation that I see in the comment section for this drama.

As a drama itself, I truly enjoyed this non-original, yet nostalgic script and feel. It told me as a viewer that love isn't easy and not everyone's relationship is a typical cookie-cutter Korean drama plot. Would I have taken Sibtis back? I don't know. But I do think that Prikkang was strong for an average college student girl. I believe if this drama was trying to "romanticize" or "normalize" abuse, Prikkang would have given him infinite changes because "she loves him." But I believe she wasn't "stupid" for giving him a second chance. Then when he broke her heart and trust for the second time, she put her foot down and tried to remove herself. She rejected all his advances and promises, even to the very end, and attempted to move on. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending itself - I knew that she had to read the letters at some point which would make her "give in" to her feelings even after he stomped all over them twice. I didn't get how his letters justified the person he became. I understand that he wanted to become the man she deserves before approaching and meeting her again, and he felt like he was not that person yet when he finally did (understatement of the year), but that doesn't explain how he became this womanizer, especially when they got together. It's like he knew better and wanted to be better but didn't, just a little more, at the same time.

I feel like there could have been a better ending, but I also feel like there could have been a worse one too. All I know is that regardless of what happened, this drama made us all feel a certain kind of way that might be uncomfortable, but it got us talking. So please don't chew me out

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I didn't have high expectations of this drama and honestly, I caved in cause Netflix kept recommending it to me (putting it on the top of queue categories, as well as having it featured in my Netflix screensaver). I didn't know what I wanted to watch, and this one seemed different from what I normally watch. So why not?

And this blew me out of the water. Yes, it was a typical medical drama, but I enjoyed how it was about two different doctors, from two different time periods, who viewed life in completely different ways, BUT were extremely similar in how passionate they were with what they did.

I like to say that this was a drama about two doctors who were passionate about their work, but once they meet, they take this journey about getting that passion and turning it into compassion. It isn't enough to be a great doctor and being the best at what you do, but relearning that initial love for what they do as well as finding some compassion and empathy for the people around them. Not saying that the two mains Heo Im and Yeon Kyung were bad people, but they did need to step back and figure out what their motivations were and learning to re-fall in love with themselves as well as their work.

I really did like the characters and how this drama was more about Heo Im and Yeon Kyung supporting one another through hardship and finding out what even though they come off as different people, they have similar hearts, and eventually, in the final 5-6 episodes, we start to see that slow burn romance. And their romance didn't lack - if anything I appreciated it a lot more as they got to become friends first and built this trust where when something bad happened, they supported one another because they knew it was against the other's character. Not like other dramas where they would break up and realize, "oh they did this to protect me." But don't worry, there are still some heavy heartbreaking scenes in this drama still. That honestly took me by surprise and made me realize that we need to protect Heo Im at all costs.

I think Heo Im was my favorite character as well - there were so many sides to him. I thought he was the comedic relief who needed to teach Yeon Kyung the joys in life, and she needed to help him relearn why he got into medicine in the first place and not for greed. BUT NO. There was so much depth and grief and it made me tear up a couple of times when we got to witness his hardship. It made it that much more enjoyable whenever Heo Im would skip around and laugh and be a bubbly person. At first I thought it was annoying and I wanted to story to progress, but once you get to the middle around ep 10, your heart breaks for him. And that is why this took me by surprise. It wasn't just some random drama.

After saying all that though, I felt the ending was a bit generic. Still good and happy (with a good segway into a possible season two with new mains, which I would totally watch), but I felt that it didn't have the epicness I was hoping for. It just kind of happened in the last 10 minutes. It got to a point where I was okay with the drama ending a certain way because it made sense. It also probably didn't help that I kept pausing the middle of emotional and intense scenes on accident because I got distracted by other things.

I do recommend this though. It took me by a surprise. It was just something super random that I was like sure why not and I am happy I watched this.

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I think out of all the Japanese dramas I have watched over the years, which isn't many (maybe a hand full), I really liked the simplicity of it even though it was emotional. So I wanted to keep this review short and sweet.

I enjoyed most characters, Akari being the only one that I couldn't get on board with, but I enjoyed how every character had something that they were struggling with. Aki being a lack of self love and respect, Tomo not knowing how to decipher his feelings as well as putting himself in other's shoes, Taichi having "mommy issues," and Akari...I couldn't figure out, but maybe it had something to do with being the exact opposite of Aki with thinking she was better than everyone else.

Even though the drama was simple, yet emotionally confusing, Aki's feelings were relate-able. My heart hurt every time she didn't know Tomo's feelings or every time she thought she finally broke through and was finally happy, it turned out to be the opposite. I did enjoy how everything was from her point of view, so we got to witness what goes on in the mind of a girl in her mid 20's, trying to figure out what love means to her in reference to self love and the love she feels like she deserves. You know, what every girl goes through at some point in her life.

There were some/ a lot of parts where I wanted to slap her because she was acting extremely wild because of her lack of self love, but everyone has that cringy past, so I buckled up for the ride. Overall, I enjoyed the relationships she built with her shared-housemates. It was a journey they all took together, and even though their issues might not be 100% fixed, they realized that there were parts of their lives they wanted to change and they are taking the first step.

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How to review this one...I found this drama via a recommendation from an instagram account I follow that recommends dramas. And overall, just based on season 1, I could have lived without watching this. I was exited to see that Seven Tan was in this drama because I LOVED her in My Mr Mermaid, and I do like her in this drama as well. She plays her character well, but I also didn't like her character Li Yan Shu. Yes, she has a sad past and has a fear of abandonment, so she doesn't let anyone close to her, but that doesn't mean you are allowed to be hella extra when interacting with people, almost everything coming out of your mouth is a sarcastic remark. Then we have Gu Cheng Ze who has the same mentality - he doesn't let anyone close to him but unlike Li Yan Shu, he never tells a lie and almost has this weird ability to catch people when they are lying. He always has this un-amused look on his face and is quiet most of the time unless he is working. PLUS, we have the "very original" plot of of Li Yan Shu being a total slob (seriously, it made me feel squirm watching her throw trash on the floor) while Gu Cheng Ze was germaphobic. Together, they always bicker and annoy one another. Regardless that Li Yan Shu is amazing at her job as a fashion designer, and Gu Cheng Ze is very good as CEO of his adoptive grandmother's company, their personalities are kind of trash. I was cringing while watching this, but I was super curious to see how it would all play out - After 7 years Li Yan Shu coming back to her hometown (no one knows what happened to her during these 7 years) and seeing how everyone reacted. Now being in the middle of season 2, I can say that this season was basically an appetizer or an introduction about how these two fell in love. Season 2 is the meat of this drama when everything we learn about in season 1 comes to light to test everyone's relationships. Other than the characters, I found this drama to be a little extra and VERY predictable. As we continue watching though, once Li Yan Shu and Gu Cheng Ze start to fall for one another, their personalities become a lot more bearable. Also, when Gu Cheng Ze finally smiles, IT WILL MELT YOUR HEART. HIS SMILE IS EVERYTHING. Other than that, this drama had a very typical mother or grandmother not liking the woman their son or grandson loves, so they do everything in their power to break them up such as Meteor Garden or Boys Over Flowers. This grandma doesn't measure up to those mothers, but she is a close second. Plus, it seemed like there were a lot more villains in this drama. The mother who abandoned her daughter, but still wanted to control her life; the step sister that that hates both step sister and step mother and is open about trying to ruin their lives; the ex boyfriend that is your boss that not only gives you a hard time about the past, but also at work; and of course the grandma that tries to drive you out of town.

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This one came as a surprise to me. I was just minding my own business trying to find something that would catch my attention in the depths of Netflix, and came across this. I don't typically watch jdramas, as they pull me in with their dark themes and no chill, and then crush my soul in the last few minutes of the final episode, but for some reason, I keep being pulled in.

This drama was no exception -

I loved all the characters - Kiyohara Kaya stole the show with her double role of playing Ayumi & Zenko;
Tomita Miu & Shigeoka Daiki also stole the show with their chemistry; and just overall, everyone did amazing playing their roles as well as embodying each character's personality with the switch

I loved the dark themes of how society and social norms play a part in young people's life. There were so many times where I was like...does anyone think it is bizarre when Kaga keeps calling who they believe to be Zenko, Ayumi? But it played into what I believe the theme was - how mindless the youth is and how they want to fit in so badly because they don't want to be an outcast, do they just follow what they believe the crowd follows. Yes, there were themes of self-internal beauty vs outward beauty which ended up separating the main characters from everyone else, and it was interesting seeing how each of the main 4 characters embodied a different viewpoint.

This is how I fell in love with Kaga, as I am sure, based on all the comments on this drama's page, everyone else did as well. Zenko believed that because she was ugly on the outside, no one would ever love her, and the only way to get love was to be beautiful externally. Ayumi was a very neutral person in the beginning - she was sympathetic and tried to reach out, but once she was rejected, she didn't try anymore. Koshiro was tricky. He had a good heart, but a jealous one. Much like Ayumi, he also reached out to Zenko and had better luck, from the goodness of his heart, but he also seemed to want attention. We wanted people to like him so he became the top of his class and star athlete, but he wanted the same attention that Kaga had. Kaga, even though wasn't the smartest or most athletic, had the love of his classmates. I think it was because he oozed happiness, which made people gravitate towards him as well as his huge heart. And because of all of this, Zenko was jealous of Ayumi while Koshiro was jealous of Kaga. Two people wishing what their counterpart had, and instead of trying to build themselves up, they wanted a shortcut that the Red Moon could provide.

I loved this drama because no matter how much my roommate who watched this with me says it was over the top and not realistic, I thought there was truth to the story. Yes, it was over the top which paired really well with the supernatural element, but it also showed the darkness in people's hearts when they've hit rock bottom and want an easy release. It was a drama about people who learned from one another's pain and learned to empathize as well as become allies.

And I wanted so badly to give this a 10/10 because it was amazing in every way, but I had to deduct half a point because this jdrama was no different from previous ones. The ending...the final minute or two tore my heart out of my chest. Which I thought was interesting- somewhere in the drama, Kaga had told Ayumi that throughout this whole switching process the two people who got the short end of the stick, were both Koshiro and Zenko. This is true, but by the end of the drama, after seeing Kaga's expression, the audience knew that he was the one who actually suffered the most and it honestly made me dislike Ayumi in that final minute. It made you think about how Koshiro was always so envious of Kaga because of his happiness and how people were drawn to that and how it seemed like he had zero worries in the world, but in that final minute, you see him fighting with himself to be happy even though he was heartbroken. It made me, as a viewer, appreciate him more because just like the other characters, he also wasn't happy as everyone thought he was, and it shows another way the youth handles rejection. We have two people who were envious of the others that they were so desperate to switch lives with them, but then you have Kaga who was breaking on the inside after everything that had happened, but he only wished to be himself and fight through the negative and bring out the positive. They really did us and Kaga dirty with that ending, but it did show strength in his character. #justiceforkaga

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Before I write this review, I had to go back and reread what I had said about the first season because it is hard to not compare the two. This season takes place in an alternate reality with similar background stories, but in the universe, Xia Lin had gotten her big break the night her and Mr Ling (she kept calling him that so that is what I am going to call him) met for the first time, when she bought his birthday cake on an off year he decided to celebrate his birthday. Two years later, Xia Lin becomes a B list celebrity when she runs into Mr Ling at a networking event, and their story starts there as she agrees to sign an engagement contract that would "save" her reputation after a fake scandal threatened her career. We do we see a lot of similar parallels from season one, but tiny ones. On the top of my head, I remember a scene about her "drowning" in a pool to get his attention and we get Pidan back this season and Mr Ling's "fear" of dogs. Of course we have some of the bigger plot twist and turns from season one, but some of these twists were reversed.

The drama by itself - it was extremely funny and I like their relationship in season one, they mains had amazing chemistry. I enjoyed how Mr Ling and Xia Lin's characters also were reversed in a way. I loved seeing Xia Lin as a serious actress who knew what she wanted and stuck to it, while we saw Mr Ling take on more of cute and fun role, but still a badass businessman. This season, I believe, took more of a simple yet cute approach to the dramatic soapy drama in season one. Yes, we still see multiple villains, but the way Mr Ling took care of everything, was with trust and with a goofy smile on his face unlike in season one, where he was super stoic and serious and never really knew what was on his mind except for his love for Xia Lin. Which is probably why I really liked his season. In season one, you did start to learn more about Mr Ling and start to fall in love with this mysterious businessman who was good at what he did and got everything he wanted, but then you find out about how he falsified medical records in order to get Xia Lin to sign an engagement contract and we are expected to forgive him after an episode or two. In this season, though, the only bad thing Mr Ling did was not tell her that he knew he beforehand and took advantage of a situation. It was a relief knowing that Mr Ling was a genuine guy...or more genuine than season one. As for Xia Lin...it was a little more complicated for me. I liked seeing her as a badass actress who always stood up for herself and knew what she wanted, but as I said previously, her and Mr Ling's roles almost switched this season, where we saw a very suborn Xia Lin who only looked at the surface when it came to things, and always went with her first reaction when making a decision. And I am not saying this was a bad thing or it made her a bad person. I just felt that she was very unforgiving or unwilling to try things out because he assumed it was going to be bad or a disaster. It got a little annoying towards the end, but it could have been a lot worse...like Mr Ling in season one.

Speaking of characters, I also really enjoyed how this season addressed one of my biggest concerns - the side characters. In season one, I didn't feel any loyalty to care about any of the sides except for Chu Yan and Fei Fei. A little bit for Wen Li....but no so much. In season two, they made these characters into mains. I was happy that they basically made Fei Fei and Wen Li's romance as important as Mr Ling and Xia Lin's. I also loved the update Wen Li got by actually having a personality in this drama. It was refreshing seeing him take charge and have a personality as I felt like him and Fei Fei were actually compatible from the get go. Fei Fei was more-or-less the same. I also loved the alternate reality Chu Yan who didn't have daddy issues and was very levelheaded and familial as well as compassionate about the work he did. I think the only issue he had was being "too shy" or just not speaking his mind about his feeling for Xia Lin. He had two years to do or say something and she would have 100% dated him. Instead, we get the story of his relationship with Ruan Meng that we all wished wasn't rushed in the last few episodes in season one. But I will say the same thing, I wasn't feeling them too much as I felt that Chu Yan showed any romantic feelings for her. Their story was cute, but I felt that she kept pushing and pushing and basically made me feel like if he rejected her, he would have been branded a terrible human being.

Overall, I felt like this drama was a perfect stress reliever in a crazy time. It took all my concerns from season one, and made the characters more likeable and goofy. It went from a dramatic soapy drama to a very cute and simple drama. The worst thing the villain did in this season was NOTHING compared to season one. I also loved how they kept ripping on one another for being too cheesy this season...even though that is what this season was. If you want to know what this season is about, please look at the photos attached to this drama's page and see their engagement photo shoot. Honestly, if the person I marry doesn't look at me the way Mr Ling looks at Xia Lin in their engagement photoshoot...I'm out. This season felt more like Mr Ling loved Xia Lin for the person she was and his love grew for her the more they were together, whereas in season one, I felt like he was fixated on her and became obsessed, but there was love there and eventually, Mr Ling learned the difference and changed.

Also, a random side note; I really liked how different this drama is from what I usually like which is why I gave it a high score. I liked how I was laughing in every episode and how quick everything was, but a comfortable quickness. I've been getting a little annoyed lately watching dramas where it takes 3-4 eps for something to happen to to be fixed, whereas this one was like...nope...people don't like to wait so we will make the viewer wait a max of a single ep. But it was also a downfall towards the end. I felt like the last episode was both unnecessary, but also wayyyy to rushed, such as the issue was was expressed at the end of ep 14, was quickly solved at the beginning of ep 16, and then we got a bunch of wedding filler and then a time jump with more filler. I felt like they could have come up with a more natural solution throughout the ep and then maybe a cute wedding scene that was literally superrrrrr rushed. Like holy cow their vows. Other than that, I had more questions about the people from season one who never even showed up in season two such as Mr Ling's obsessive friend who literally hypnotized him in season one to fall in love with her or his step brother who kidnapped Xia Lin. Like what happened in this alternate reality where they decided they didn't want to be crazy people and show up? Besides those points...I loved how cute and cooky and this drama was and I still can't get over Mr Ling. Like got to find you a guy like Mr Ling in season two.

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In my review for season one, I had said that I've seen a few dramas like this with the same general idea of time travel or someone coming from another world (being from past, future, or planet) and this drama was no different. It was light and goofy and had less of a story-line vs the first season which made me ultimately not love it. We start where we had left off except at the end of the first season, we have Emperor Tang drive his sword through Fei Fei who had been force fed Black Pearl which made her into one of the insane soldiers that The Zodiac Kingdom is trying to defeat, but because of having so much power from being the master of Ophiuchus, she was almost a "power bank" to give strength to their enemies. Given that information and thinking there was no second season, we assumed that Emperor Tang just murdered the love of his life (even though he basically banished her after finding out she was a Ophiuchus), but instead she somehow survived and was chained up in the dungeon.

What got my upset about the beginning of this drama was how literally everyone was hesitant after the whole possession thing, understandably, but the one person who should have had faith in her and should have saved her, was the one who pushed away the most. He allowed everyone else to save her, while sneaking in to see if she was ok. I was honestly surprised how quickly she forgave him. And I feel like that is what this season was about. Yes there was the plot that they found out that the people of Orion, not Ophiuchus, were the ones that were behind the poisoning and possession of the Ophiuchus people as well as the reason for the late emperor's death. And everyone was trying to find evidence and stop them, but ultimately getting into more trouble. BUT that was all overshadowed by Fei Fei and Emperor Tang's cringy attempts of figuring out their relationship as well as all the other zodiac members wanting to find love as well. Which is fine, but it felt almost unnecessary with the ending we got. From season one, Virgo and Leo finally found some common ground and they ended up getting together before Fei Fei and Tang as well as advancing their relationship. They were cute, but I didn't understand why (spoiler) they made her pregnant because we were never going to see the birth of their baby given the time frame of when it happened and that insane climax and ending. I mean it is cute how far they both came to having a child together, but unnecessary. Then we have Cancer and Chen from season one - Chen being in love with Fei Fei, and continuing to be in love with her in this season, and Cancer being in love with Chen since childhood. I felt bad for Cancer as she was trying to get him to fall in love with her, but I enjoyed how they didn't force their relationship as I believe Chen loved Fei Fei, maybe even more than Emperor Tang. It wasn't until the climax when I thought it was a little forced, but still it wasn't like they kissed and realized they loved one another. I believe if they did end up making them fall in love, my rating would have gone down. I don't like forced relationships especially when it happens after a person was still in love with another. Like homie, that's a rebound. Cancer would have been the rebound. Third, we have Prince Tang aka Aquarius who had fallen in love with Orion's princess after she had tricked him and kidnapped him. He has such a good heart and believes that everyone deserves a second chance to be happy and I felt like this season revolved the most around him and Xia Bing (Bing Bing). I wasn't the biggest fan of her, but yeah I get it. She had loyalty to her people and family. In a way, she caused a lot of death in the final episodes and it hurt seeing the prince hurt. I think he had the WORST fate out of everyone in this drama which hurts a lot because he was and still is my favorite character. I think this season made me realize that I am leaning more towards dislike for the emperor, especially in that final fight scene where he sucked at fighting and didn't event try to survive to see his bride again. Finally, I think my favorite relationship, which wasn't even a real one, just an insinuated one towards the end of the drama was between Aries and Sagittarius. Sag was possessed most of the time in this drama and Aries wanted to know what love was like where I kind of felt that Gemini might have had a mentor student crush on him. It wasn't until the end when I got major vibes that Sag loved Aries and it was heartbreaking that they weren't able to explore it after the "Red Wedding."

I've seen this plot in many dramas which made me scared to watch another drama like this because I was scared of the ending. But I thought that because this drama was light and fun that the ending would be as well. But then after the whole Red Wedding scene...I got scared again. And I did appreciate the happy ending, but it didn't make sense to me.

Ending Spoiler - do not read if you want to watch the drama and don't want to know the ending

After her and her people saved everyone who had been killed including all zodiac members, Fei Fei and her people were drained of their power and started to disappear. There was a very emotional and intense scene that broke my heart as the Emperor shared one final kiss with his bride of only a few hours, while being encircled by all the zodiac members/close friends until she finally disappeared. After everything, she finally regained consciousness in her world and went back to her normal life as an intern at the hospital, but struggled as she didn't know if anything was real, yet knew her love for the emperor and her friends were real. Then, after realizing it was the day of Ophiuchus, she ran to the hill top thinking something would happen and she would be connected to the people she loved. Instead, she runs into Jia Cheng who is the cpop idol from season one who she mistaked the prince for when she first met him. Now, she mistakes Jia Cheng for the man she loved, and he completely serves her. After, when Fei Fei was about to lose all hope, she hears Emperor Tang's voice and turns around to see him standing there in modern clothing and full memories. Fei Fei then runs into his arms and the drama ends.

I appreciated this ending so much. In other dramas, once the lead came back to the present, the only happy ending they get is meeting a reincarnation of the man she loved, excited to fall in love with him all over again, only her keeping the memories of their love. Personally, I don't consider this a happy ending because it puts so much pressure on the present day love interest to be exactly like this man from the past and not know about it. I liked this ending because he still had his memories and they could pick up where they left off, but this ending left me with more questions. Did he just remember that he loved her? Or did he remember everything including being emperor? Was he always in this world, being a doppelganger of Jia Cheng or were him and the other Zodiac members transported and added? We did see a little flashback of the day before she was transported in ep 1, of bumping into Chen at the hospital, Leo being the taxi driver, and the Prince being the guy who got hit on the bike. The ending we got was extremely ideal, but it left so many questions they didn't need to answer, but I wanted answered.

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Unexpected, Instant Favorite

This isn't my usual drama genre, but I am super happy that I came across this recommendation randomly a few days ago on tik tok. Coming into this, I knew I was getting myself into a melodrama about a woman trying to escape from her marriage due to domestic violence, and convinces a plastic surgeon to reconstruct her face in order to hide. What she later realizes is that she is given the face of the surgeon's dead wife. I thought I was going to watch a dark and but classic soapy drama due to the fact that homie gave her his dead wife's face and thought it was going to be brushed over by all his friends and family.

Instead, the writer and director gave us a very twisted and dark story and turned it very light and full of flowers (and flower metaphors). They made this drama very enjoyable and easy to watch as the director paired every character with their own "theme song" to light classical music.

One of the things that I loved about this as well was how simple the characters were, but also complex. They were complex because they all were battling something within themselves - Dr Seo and his love for his wife Ha Hyung; Ma Ri and her internal battle of standing up to her abusive husband and learning who to trust; In Wook with his obsession with Ma Ri and his other's death; Hae Ra and her obsessions with Dr Seo; and Sung Ho and fighting a dark secrets. But regardless of their internal battles and these things being HUGE motivators for these characters, they were simple people who grew throughout the drama. The writer and director did an amazing job where we knew these people inside and out and whenever they were faced with a specific situation, the audience knew exactly how each out them would react. And this is to a t until the very end, when everything started to explode, and everyone was tested - but oddly, I just sat there happily watching because I knew that Ma Ri and Dr Seo wanted to help and fight for love and freedom the right way on their own terms. If they were given a shortcut, they wouldn't take it, knowing that it would come with strings attached and would help them get to their goal quicker, but turning them into someone they were not. And it was very refreshing to watch these characters grow as people, but also never stray from their morals.

Another thing I loved was how devoted a lot of these characters were - I believe my favorite character(s) in this drama were Dr Seo and In Wook's lackies due to their devotion to their people. And that is why Dr Seo and Hae Ra wouldn't have worked - Dr Seo is a romantic and would give up everything he has worked for in order to help get Ma Ri out of an abusive situation, where as when Hae Ra was put in the same situation between helping someone else who was in a bad situation and her gallery, she would chose her gallery and her hard work. And there is nothing wrong with this, they are just driven by different things. I honestly think that Hae Ra would feel suffocated at a certain point if she did marry Dr Seo. But I think the MVP award would have to go to In Wook's lackies; they were devoted to him and his wild goose chase and not by the business. There were many times when In Wook's father would try to override a command and they would not budge. Even to the very end, his main guard genuinely seemed to care about In Wook - I got the vibe that he was worried about him and hopefully by being on his side, he could protect him and hopefully persuade him to not do anything crazy.

I would have loved to give this drama 10 stars, but ultimately, it came down to the ending. I LOVED everything about this drama except for the very end. It just seemed like it ended like any other episode, even after the "final battle," where there was a huge after event... it just ended. We didn't get anything else and ended on yet another flower metaphor. I feel that I needed another episode - there were 40 25 minute episodes where we would spend an ep or two trying to fix something after an event happened which I enjoyed every minute episode, so it was very out of character for this character to just sum everything up in the last 5 minutes.

Other than that, I enjoyed the journey and the story of all the characters. There was a lot of "melodrama" to this, but there was also a lot of depth and a story about a woman learning how to tap into her courage to fight as well as her learning what true love actually is. It was also a story about a man who wanted to pretend like everything was okay and masked his hurt with fake love for wife who seemed like two different people, but learned how to accept and heal from it. And it was a story about a man who was traumatized by an abusive father and the death suicide of his mother, who turned into a monster, and refused help.

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This drama movie was fine. Not great, not terrible - it had all the elements of an easy-to-watch drama. I was looking for something easy and cheesy with a dash of insta-love and it met my expectations.

It was a story about a young girl named Ara, who had been in the States studying fashion and design and decides to come back to Seoul after 15 years to help one of her good friends, Min Jung, design her stage outfits for a season as she is an up and coming kpop idol. During one of her first concerts, which Min Jung is co-hosting with kpop superstar Romi, Ara gets lost and stumbles into Romi's dressingroom. After that, the two keep meeting one another as Min Jung tries to unsuccessfully seduce Romi. Romi falls in love with Ara instantly as she is a "breath of fresh air" while Ara seems to be just be going with the flow.

The only thing I didn't like about this drama movie was that I felt that we were missing some scenes that might have been cut to connect idea a to idea b. It almost made the audience try to connect the dots and come up with our own connectors. I also felt that there was a lot of setup to build this world and introduce characters and how they were connected and related, but as soon as the world was built, the climax happened and then it was solved quickly and the movie was over. Such that, I thought that the mysterious character Muse that Ara has been obsessed with, would have played more into the story. The description made it sound like Muse was going to be a love rival and Romi would have to fight for Ara's heart, but that wasn't the case.

It also seemed that everyone was some kind of evil and poor Romi and Ara were stuck in the middle and got run over every time someone wanted to make a move to tear someone else down. We did get a classic "misunderstanding" trope, which honestly made me mad how everyone could go against this one character who was the most innocent puppy dog and had no evil bone in their body, BUT EVERYONE didn't question if these pieces of information could have been false. But this drama was fine, and the ending was very classic and the song was actually really good.

I wish there was more romance building, but when they said let's do insta-love, Romi literally saw Ara and was like.."yup, that's my wife." But, I was a bit lost as they maybe spent less than 25% of this movie focus ed on any kind of romance.

If you have the time to watch this, and just want a relaxing easy-going drama movie, this one is good.

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