Alice
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Overall this drama was a good remake because it mostly followed the original drama, but added its own things to make it its own. The reason I steer away from remakes because a lot of them are just the exact same as the original, which makes it quite boring to watch. Remakes can also go the other way, changing so much things that it becomes loosely based on the original, which can have mixed results.
I'm probably biased because I am a fan of time travel dramas. Another reason this drama was good because the conflict in the story actually made sense with the plot. The conflict didn't suddenly come out of nowhere. It was thoroughly explained in the beginning, and made sense as it played out. I also rarely watch Mainland China dramas because of its ridiculousness. The only time I will ever watch a Mainland drama will be because it sucked me in with its plot.
One thing I though was unnecessary was the ending. Unsurprisingly, Mainland China dramas always have crappy endings because the producers want to milk every last drop of the story. I was not wrong on this one. This drama could have had a good ending, but they had to "summarize" everything that happened, which included unnecessary details. It was good to rewatch the details, but having a recap summary after watching the whole drama seemed unnecessary.
If anyone wants to watch the drama in a 2-ep summary should just watch the second to last ep and the last ep.To anyone who wants to watch the whole drama, they should watch up to EP23 5:30 to be satisfied or else they will end with the unsatisfying ending.
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It tends to be a bit lagging in the middle but the ending was surprising. I wanted to stop watching halfway through, but was totally suprised at the ending. Clever, clever screenwriter tripping the audience last minute.
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But I was very surprised the plot was very organized and actually made sense. However, there was still plot holes. All the characters seem confusing in this series. I found the concept of KO girls mind boggling. They still get recognized under their "disguise" so it kinda makes no sense to conceal themselves. However, I would say the story is a improvement over X-Dormitory. The writers incorporated Yi Neng, which makes the story flow better. However, it also made me question if the budget for X Dormintory was the why it wasn't that good.
As always in almost every Zhong Ji series, they kill off the OTP. Somehow for this series, the writers made open ending for the OTP. I guess this was slightly better that the usual killing of the OTP.
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I was also kind of disappointed in this drama, compared to X Family and KO Re-act, but it was better than KO One Return. That was the worst out of the whole KO series. There is barely any Yi Neng shown in the drama, which made it disappointing. I personally do like when they add Yi Neng or Zhan Li Zhi Su in the KO series because the stories are mostly based off of it and it does make it more entertaining.
Some of the characters in this drama claim to be Yi Neng Xing Zhe, but they barely show it. It made me think their no different from Ma Gua.They also have love interests in this drama, but never fully commit to the relationship, just like Re-act, which bugged me.
But the comedy never fails to make me laugh. I gave a higher score to the music because it was placed correctly to convey the important moments, which made the story more bearable. I also feel that they jammed everything interesting in the plot in the last episode, which made me think the characters in the drama were waiting for something to happen for most of the drama's running time.
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This review may contain spoilers
First of all, why did they choose to call the drama "Apple in Your Eye"? I find that ridiculous because the Chinese title translated to English is "Little Sister". I don't understand why they made the change, since the themes of the drama would still work well with "Little Sister".I actually liked the plot. I haven't watch too much Taiwanese dramas because most of the plots have become too similar. They seem to enjoy the corny plots the most, as I keep seeing them. The main girl was kinda whiny throughout the whole drama, but I did enjoy it, despite its many corny moments.
I disliked the ending due to some spoilery plot reasons I cannot mention in this review. It affected my feelings toward the drama as a whole, but overall, this drama was one of the better Taiwanese ones.
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As a fan who has watched almost every medical k-drama in existence, I really liked this drama. Medical dramas usually focus on the medical aspects of the story, and rarely do they actually ever focus on romance, even for the more melodramatic ones. So it's actually refreshing that they even had romance in this drama.
I have to say this is #2 out of the top 3 medical k-dramas I have watched. Almost everything was excellent, except for the confusing plot in the middle and the presence of some unnecessary scenes that did not add to the story.
This drama focused more on romance than your regular medical drama. Medical dramas in general usually focus more on the medical aspect than the romance, which can make them seem boring at times. However, the romance in Doctor Stranger managed to make the medical aspects more accessible to a general audience.
Some events in the middle of the drama involving character motivations and actions were not resolved satisfactorily. Unnecessary relationships complicated the story, making it harder to understand the characters and their motivations.
The acting was amazing because all of the main actors in this drama were not rookies. They knew what to do and how to do it. If there were problems, it was mostly because of how the characters were written in the story, not the actors.
Overall, I would recommend this drama to those who like their melodramatic romances as the main focus of the story. Those who are new to medical k-dramas should start out with this one, which has less gore than the typical medical k-drama.
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The chemistry between the onscreen couple was so good that I would mistake them as a offscreen couple if that were true. I didn't notice until near the end that the female lead had skills due to years if acting. In most of the romantic scenes, she took the initiative and the male lead followed her example. The acting was pretty subtle. I could barely noticed except for this one scene where they were goofing off in her bed. The male was really awkward and it seemed like the female took the lead to make it more romantic. She kept moving around him to make the scene seem playful, which worked out pretty well. The choice of fashion also visually shows the personalities of the characters. I noticed that the female lead tends to like clothes that are more , and the male lead like to have his clothes in a simple manner.
I really enjoyed the music mainly because they used actors for the drama ost. It made it seem fresh due to the actors using their own voices instead of a professional singer like in kdramas.
Overall I really liked the drama due to the amazing acting. I would recommend it for people who like the laughs and do not mind the age gap between the lead actors. I also realized this drama is a remake of the popular Taiwanese drama "My Queen". I have not personally watched it but I have hear good things about it.
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Every time this drama hit a good climax in each episode, the resolution/ending would undo all the built-up tension and excitement. The crimes lacked good explanations, and were usually resolved with vague interpretations that had no details.
The story relied too much on the main character to drive the drama. I felt he was too calm for the events that were going around him, which made things less exciting. I wasn't sure if it was the actor or the role itself. However, throughout the drama, he actually developed a personality and emotions, which made him slightly more interesting. If the writers concentrated more on the developing the side characters, the drama might have been more interesting and the main character would not seem as boring.
I did like the uniqueness of the the villains though. They weren't the mainstream villains everyone is used to seeing in Japanese dramas. Everyone was super crazy and twisted by Japanese standards. I thought they were more interesting than the main character.
Most of the tension and excitement was due to the music. The choral music was placed at exactly the right moments, which intensified the events of the drama.
The people who would enjoy BORDER are those who like supernatural dramas, the actor Oguri Shun, and interesting villains. However, there are other dramas who did all the above a lot better than BORDER, like SPEC.
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The short length of a jdrama usually forces the writers to focus on either the story or the characters, which means the other part is often underdeveloped. Tenchuu managed to balance both parts, which meant I connected with the characters on an emotional level as they went through the events of the story. The acting was good, but it didn't amaze me. Nevertheless, it was good enough for me to keep watching.
Overall I did enjoy the drama and would watch a season 2 if it was released
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The graphics made it seem like a live cartoon movie with all the characters. The amount of detail made me feel like I was actually in the world of the movie. It was truly amazing that everything was only filmed on green screen and added in post-production.
But the actors in this movie made it come alive. Konishi Ryosei will always be Garo/Saijima Kouga to me for every Garo series I watch . Even if this movie focused more on the world-building, he made it seem like he was actually part of this alternate universe.
The costumes was great. All of the characters looked like they were actually from an alternate universe due to the fine amount of detail in their appearances, from clothes to makeup.
I really love the amount and detail and effort placed into the Garo series. I am not ashamed to say I'm a tokusatsu fan. Garo is one of those series that everything they make always connect to the original Garo, especially the appearance of the original characters. Which makes the story understandable.
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The female lead, Cheng Zixin, was very wishy-washy, especially on her feelings towards the two male leads, Fang and Zhang. I felt that the male leads overshadowed what was supposed to be Cheng Zixin's story. The movie tried to present both Fang and Zhang as possible love interests, but I felt only one of the men was worthy of her. (And she didn't spend much time with him in the movie). The acting was superb, even if the characters weren't developed to their fullest potential.
The story was sort of confusing, especially with the romance plot. In fact, the romance weakened the story, though it was executed very well. The other elements of the story was okay, but nothing really to talk about. The ending didn't connect with the story that had been established. The movie obviously wanted it to be a surprise, but I felt it was tacked on at the last minute just to have a resolution.
I expected more from a HK film, which is supposed to be light and humorous. This movie was not as strong as other HK films I watched. Both the story and the characters were very meh for me.
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The writers made a good decision making romance the top priority of this drama, which allowed the viewer to connect more with the characters and their relationship. Even though the characters didn't have that much "skinship" compared to a mainstream kdrama, but you could still tell they were a great couple. The romance was well-balanced. There was no corniness, and the humor was well-placed.
The acting in the drama was very good. I was especially swooning over one of my favorite actors, Yoon Shi Yoon. I have seem almost all his dramas, so it's no surprise his acting is very good. I liked how he got rid of his pretty boy image and went for a more professional look in this role. I was surprised at how good Yoona's acting was, even though she has limited experience.
Overall, I liked this drama a lot. I recommend it to people who are looking for an alternative to mainstream kdramas or a well-handled romance.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama was actually pretty good for a romantic comedy, since I feel Korea develops their romances better. Jdramas in general are short and sweet, which does not give you a lot of time with the characters and story. Last Cinderella managed to spend a lot of time with the characters and romance, so there was more of an emotional connection between the viewer and the characters. This drama reminded me of Kimi Wa Petto, where a younger man and a older women are in a relationship. It catches my interest because you rarely see this type of May-December relationship happen in real life. (It's usually old dudes and younger girls.)
There are a lot of issues I had with the story. However, my reasons for disliking the story involve a lot of spoilers, so I will be putting my thoughts on my drama blog.
The characters were well-developed, and the actors did a good job bringing them to life. Ryoko Shinohara, who played Kin (aka Sakura) made me like her character a lot. She played Sakura as a ditzy person who is a tomboy at heart. A lot of her scenes made me laugh really hard
Overall I did enjoy the drama, but kdramas are still my pick for romcoms.
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The story was all right. It was nice to see a drama where the man's family was very supportive and nice, compared with the pettiness and drama in typical dramas. There weren't many cliche and corny scenes, except for one part where the main couple were using their hands as phones. Their intimation of a phone ringing sounded hilarious
This drama was good with the excellent acting. Many of the actors had plenty of experience in dramas, so there were no amateur acting mistakes. The acting was natural and spot-on for the characters, with no unnecessary dramatics.
One thing I didn't like about the drama was how the love triangle was executed. The main character in this drama wasn't clear on who she wanted to be with. She did say she wanted to be with one man, but then got intimate with the other. I wasn't sure which man she wanted to choose, and actually thought it was going to end in a threesome. (I wouldn't have minded because the main dudes are good looking , but dramas usually don't take that route.)
Another thing I didn't like was the focus on business, which made it seem really boring in some episodes. One minute, the main couple would be really intimate and then work somehow slides in and ruins the moment. There should have been more focus on the romance if that was supposed to be the A plot.
Overall, I liked this drama, despite its shortcomings. It was fresh and interesting, without many of the cliches in your typical dramas.
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