People who have never seen an asian series or movie in their lives, will watch this and enjoy it!

First of all, I really like Japanese series in general so I was quite excited when this was announced by Netflix. Why? First and foremost, because it is based on a manga that is mainly focused on death games (and we all know how good the Japanese are in this kind of themes) and secondly because of the budget.

One of the main things that people get to complain about, is the low budget that most Japanese series have. Many Jdoramas are character-driven stories, with dark cinematography and the absence of flashy clothes, homes or buildings in comparison with Kdramas. I personally don't really care about the low budget, since it adds realism to most of their series, but with this one it was different.

This is the kind of series that needs a good CGI and a very high budget. Many other Japanese series and movies could have been very famous if the production value was higher (Signal 100, Class 3A - All of You Are Hostages From Now On). And let me tell you that the production in this one is top notch. The directing is very well done and the music, even though not very memorable, adds to the suspense.

As for the plot, this is an ideal series for people who like death games. It is quite suspenseful, especially in the first challenges and the fact that the viewer tries to solve them together with the protagonists adds to the excitement. The characters are very unique and some of them stand out more than others (Chishiya and Kuina I am looking at you).

As for the portrayal from the actors I have a lot of things to say. Firstly, the majority of them were very good. Machida Keita was amazing and so was Asahina Aya. Secondly I want to apologize to Nijiro Murakami, because after watching him in Aogeba Toutoshi, I was very disappointed that he was going to play such an interesting character in this series. Not only he wasn't bad, but he was also the show stealer with his performance. Lastly, I will probably get killed because of this, but Yamazaki Kento was not as impressive as I expected him to be. He wasn't bad, but I felt like he was overacting at some points. Even though he might have wanted to give life to the manga by doing this, it felt very forced since all the other actors were very natural.

Give it a chance!

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Life is a difficult equation

Melancholia comes from the ancient Greek medical term μελαγχολία that has two compounds; μέλας (melas) that means black and χολή (kholḗ) that means bile. Basically, it is used to describe someone that feels deep sadness. One of the first appearances of the term "melancholia" is found in a Hippocrates work called "Περί νούσων" (About deceases). The word captures the idea that some ancient Greeks believed (mostly Hippocrates) that the character and the mood of a person depends on the blending degree of several bodily fluids.

I have mixed feelings about this series. It kept me company and I got used to watching it almost every night. Nevertheless, even though I enjoyed it, it also had many flaws that I need to mention. Starting from the technical aspects, the directing is quite good, but at the same time not that good to make you eager to congratulate the director. Let’s be honest, good directing is something that many Korean series have, especially when the budget is decent, so this is just another one of those. The cinematography of the series is very eye-catching and I personally think it is one of the best things this drama has to offer. The original soundtrack was decent, but, in my opinion, nothing worth remembering.

Plot-wise, melancholia is nothing groundbreaking or to be more precise it could have been groundbreaking, if some things were handled differently. As the synopsis suggests, the series is divided into two parts. The first one is taking place in Aseong high school with our two protagonists being the positive Ji Yoon Soo, the math teacher, and Baek Seung Yoo, her brilliant student. The second part of the series takes place four years later, with our two main characters trying to get revenge after a sexual scandal that involved them destroyed their lives.

Unfortunately, the drama does a very poor job at mixing the light-hearted and romantic aspects of the series -that are barely there and mostly one-sided, since we all know it couldn’t have been portrayed otherwise- with the more serious subject of school corruption. Especially in the first few episodes, it feels like you are watching two different series. The second part focuses much more on the corruption plot, but was also poorly handled. It felt unnecessarily long and it wasn’t exciting to watch or suspenseful. Generally, the series is quite slow paced and it could have easily been reduced down to twelve episodes making the script much more interesting to watch. Making a slow paced series doesn't mean that it will be draggy or that it will need less episodes. In this particular case though, I felt that the scriptwriter tried too much to make this impactful by making things move slower and as a result we had many unnecessary scenes.

There were some aspects in the story that I enjoyed, even though I wish that all of them were much more developed. The love for math and how you can find them in the simplest of things was one of the best parts of the series. Even though we have seen many series about students and corrupted schools, what I enjoyed about Melancholia is that it portrayed a genius student and how a person that has such talent can also have many problems that we can’t really imagine. Lastly, there were some interesting characters, like Jin Hyeon Uk (Yoon Soo’s father) and Ryu Sung Jae. Even though I would like to see more of their story, they were still a delight to watch.

The acting in the series is nothing phenomenal, but all of the actors did a fairly good job at portraying their roles. If there was one actor that fascinated me with his performance once again, then that would be Choi Dae Hoon. I realized his potential in Beyond Evil and he had another quite interesting character to portray here (in comparison to his usual bland support roles). I truly wish he gets to showcase his talent more in the future. There is also some overacting here and there, especially from Jin Kyung that portrays Noh Jung Ah, the director of Aseong high school. It seemed, at times, like she was trying to be another Cheon Seo Jin from Penthouse, something that could never work, because this type of acting is not appropriate for this series.

Perhaps I shouldn’t mention this in the review, but I have seen many people using the word "pedophilia" to talk about this series and I feel the need to say that this a very wrong term to use. Please, don’t use such a term without first searching what it actually means, because there are certain requirements for someone to be considered a pedophile. However, if you find the theme even a little uncomfortable, it is better to avoid it.

All in all, melancholia is a visually pleasing series, with some interesting characters and good acting that has a very promising start, with one of the best first episodes I have seen in a while. However, unfortunately, it seems like they were unable to make the different parts of the plot connect in a balanced way and halfway through the series lost its spark and it became quite uneventful and bland.

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Thank you for being born

I don't think there is anything more valuable for a person than to hear that someone else is thankful for their existence.
Life can be pretty rough at times, feelings of insecurity may fill our hearts more often than not. I would dare say that every human being on this planet has gone through a rough time, full of disappointments, failures, losses and has also believed that life can just be too hard. That no one can 100% understand them.

The problem is that people don't really tend to listen to themselves, a simple "you did good" doesn't have the same impact when someone tells it to oneself. So I don't think there is a more valuable thing someone can hear from another human than a a simple thank you; ''thank you for being born, for being here''.

I think this movie is just about that. The complexity of humans and that no matter how different we may be, there is an internal need of a person listening that someone is there for them, that someone truly cares, that there is a reason that they are here and that they are loved.
Even if they feel helpless, trivial or even if they are fully satisfied with their lives, listening to such emotionally impactful words can really bring tears to everyone's eyes or at least an emotional reaction.

Koreeda, once again, deals with the theme of a found family, while also commenting on important and quite devastating social issues like human trafficking, abuse of underage children, adoptions, birth and of course with the Baby Box itself, an actual box that people abandon their children in for a variety of reasons.

This film is not perfect and I would dare say that it feels more like it has been inspired by Koreeda rather than being filmed by him, but nonetheless it is worth the watch. It is slow paced, character driven, symbolism heavy and as you have understood not for everyone, but I think it is worth a chance just for that one scene that was devastatingly beautiful.

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The complexity of human nature

I will keep this short.

Even though this series is not perfect in any way, it has something that I rarely see in other historical dramas. The core of it is the people. Not the palace, not the romance, not the schemes, just the people.

It is about ordinary, every day people fighting for their rights to live decently as human beings and not just survive. It is about the beauty and the cynicism of human nature. It is about change, about hardships, about love, about identity and so many other things.

It is a story about people like us, people that were full of strength and dreams, but also full of fear for tomorrow, people with their own weaknesses.

It is an important story that everyone should watch.

Even though the series is based on historical events, the liberties that the writer has taken are integrated into the main story in a great way.

Like it is mentioned in the series, "It's always been the weak who changed the world", and that is something that we all should remember.

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It was really hard rating this drama. It was highly anticipated as a Netflix original Korean series and after watching the trailer I could see that the budget was high. To tell the truth I wanted this series to be a hit. Why? I wanted people who don't give a chance to series from countries like China and Korea to know what they are missing.

I read multiple comments saying that the series had more politics than it should have and I completely understand their point of view, but I also disagree. I think that the drama didn't want to be just a source of entertainment. In my opinion the writers wanted us to see that even in a life-or-death situation, the politicians - no matter being in the Joseon era or in today's society - will only think about their own personal gain. But if there are no people to ''obey'' does having power really matter? It was great to think who are the real monsters and see in what extremes can people go to survive. I loved the fact that it showed the corruption among the people in the palace and the courage of every day individuals.

What made this different from all the dystopian films and series was the fact that it didn't only have dramatic scenes but it also had comedic elements. The cinematography was great, so was the music. The only minor problem for me was the acting. Don't get me wrong it wasn't even near to being bad, but I expected more from such well known actors - also more screen time for Bae Doona-.

All in all, it is definitely worth watching and I would recommend it to non Kdrama watchers for sure.

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The American Dream but not really...

A decent chinese movie about family connections of two siblings from different mothers that takes place in the US.

The movie portrayed the multicultural identity of the States and the majority of the actors did a decent job, despite the fact that the sctipt was mainly in English, which wasn't their native language.

The character of the female lead was very well written and realistic, something that was also true for her little brother that acted exactly like kids do (annoying me at times).

The story had some emotional moments and touching elements and it did try to be realistic, however many times it failed, with things happening out of nowhere and people acting in a quite improbable way. Even the main reason why the little kid went to the US felt a bit far-fetched. Lastly, at times, it was like the movie was glamorizing -at least to a certain extent- the life in the States.

All in all, it is a decent film that is very easy to watch and it does have its moments.

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I'm sorry, but this is definitely not one of the worst Korean movies out there

According to the know it all internet, this film is considered a huge failure, both commercial and critical, and generally one of the worst Korean films to ever be made. Now doesn't that make you more eager to watch it?

It is stated in the very beginning that the movie is a fictional dramatization inspired by true events and that's exactly what it is.

The story is taking place during the japanese occupation of Korea, when an idealist believes that it is vital for a Korean bicyclist to win in the races that take place in the capital. The reason? The morale of the Korean people should be raised to strengthen the cause of the resistance.

It is a -mostly- fictional film based on the barely known life of famed cyclist Um Bok Dong that raced against the Japanese.

Now is this a great movie? Not really. But is it extremely entertaining? Hell, yes!

This movie has everything that you will find in similar films. Fighting against the extremely evil Japanese (and the equally evil Koreans that have chosen to work for the enemy), having a hero that is a bit pure -that's how they like to call him- (or if we are being real a bit dumb with a big heart) and of course watching some things that are hard to believe and impossible to happen.

I won't lie. It looks very cheap at times with some awful CGI and some questionable acting performances. The plot is as simplistic as it could get and it definitely doesn't look like a 2019 film. However, it is so damn entertaining and it achieves its goal which is to make your heart feel for the Korean people and everything they went through.

It has some nice comedic elements and some heart racing parts and generally, if it was not evident from what I said before, it is an extremely easy and fun watch -with a pretty well edited trailer that makes you want to give it a chance even more-.

Should you expect something great? Not even close. Is it an amusing watch that is better than just staring at the wall after a difficult day at work? Absolutely!

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A D(isappointing) A(bsurd) R(idiculous) K(lutzy) film

I was planning to watch this movie for a while, mostly because I heard many people saying that it is very dark and twisted - and I like my movies as dark as my soul-, but besides being dark and twisted it was also a disappointment.

In terms of directing and cinematography, the movie has nothing to offer, besides some nice shots (that were no more than four). The lighting is very bad and the general atmosphere of the movie is pretty bland, not managing to achieve the dark atmosphere that it should have.

The production quality seems to be relatively low. Even though it does have some scenes that could look better, it generally didn't bother me.

Acting is good enough, but there is also your typical -bad- overacting here and there, mostly by Matsuzaka Tori.

And now, the plot...
It is so badly written, I wanted to cry at some point. Even though it did have a decent beginning, everything went downhill after that. There are way too many stuff that are making no sense and are over the top for the sake of being over the top. Even the disturbing scenes were not that disturbing, mainly because the characters were so bland that you would feel nothing about them, even if they died. Lastly, the movie had some tropes that reminded me more of a korean makjang than a mystery/psychological film.

All in all, the movie has a good concept that no one really cared to develop in a logical way -I am calling that lazy writing- and as a result it ends up being nonsensical with some badly written characters and some scenes that are there just for the shake of shock.

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Have you ever finished a series and you just felt like you won't find anything similar; that a particular drama has a special place in your heart? Well that is how I felt like, after finishing Tumbling.

I will start with my major complain saying that this series deserves much more viewers than it actually has. This is my plea to all of you to give this Japanese series a try.

Anyway, I don't know how to put my feelings into words with this Jdrama but I will give it a try, so bare with me.


Tumbling was about finding your dream in an unexpected situation. It was about chasing what you love no matter the sacrifices, because in the end you just found something that is worthy to fight for. Tumbling was about people with the same goal; individuals so different that found something to lean on. It was about working together. It was about the sadness that accompanies failure and the happiness when you finally succeed in what you love. It was about giving your best not just for you, but for others. Tumbling was about throwing away your selfishness and fighting for your team.


If I could describe Tumbling with just one word I would use 'friendship'. The series focuses on every character and it gives us a satisfying background about everyone. There is no hero as every single character has its flaws and that is why this series is special to me. Tumbling teaches you that you alone can't achieve everything and an individual doesn't just have to, but needs people who will be there in the happy moments and in any difficult situation. Moreover, judging people just from the way they act or look is something that has been told many times through series and movies, but tumbling does it in a different way. I loved how every character had its weak and strong points and that fights and disappointment sometimes can't be avoided in a friendship. Tumbling shows that friendship is about mutual support, that your friends also have feelings on their own that may be even more complicated that yours. Lastly, I was attached to every single character and I felt like I was fighting with them, I laughed and I cried with them. Maybe it was over the top at times, but it was also as humane as it could be.

Tumbling is not perfect, it definitely has its flaws, but it doesn't matter, because in the end it has so many things to offer.

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