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  • Last Online: Dec 13, 2021
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Sydney
  • Contribution Points: 4 LV1
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  • Join Date: March 31, 2013

CarlaSantini

Sydney

CarlaSantini

Sydney
Ongoing 21/21
Just You
29 people found this review helpful
Dec 18, 2013
21 of 21 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 8.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
This is probably after a long time since I watched a Taiwanese drama and I am reviewing with a mind still fresh of "Just You".

Story : The story is very normal, little cheeky and stretched. Its obvious that stories like these are driven majorly by the "guy-girl-living-together-and-trying-to-keep-it-a-secret" plot. The guy shown as a cold and mean jerk whereas the girl is cheerful and enthusiastic. The writers of this story threw the "Boss-employee" relationship in this one. And ofcourse, to spice it up, "The Dating Ban".

Acting/Cast : They lightened up the story, they brought it to life. I really liked Aaron Yan and Kou Puff, their characters and how well they portrayed them. Lin Lyla as Ding Jia Yu, did a little bit of over acting (especially her "crying" scenes). The side characters were good, only the weird thing being, in a plot of "Forbidden Love in Office", everyone liked the other employee and ended up in a relationship (except the character of Dean!), if you noticed.

Music : It is simple, less and plain. As always, "Unstoppable Sun" by Aaron Yan is a song beautifully sung.

Rewatch Value : Yes, I have to be honest that despite this drama being stretched to 21 episodes, I do have some moments that I'd wanna look back at and if some of my friends ask me to watch together with them, I would. But, watching it alone in one go again will be very boring as the story will be known and it'll just feel like a drag.

Overall, A light story and if you're looking for Rom-Com (like I was until I stumbled at this!), then this is it, you're reading the right review. Enjoy watching. :)

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Completed
Dream High
16 people found this review helpful
Apr 19, 2013
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
There's no doubt that Dream High is way better than its second part. It is a light story full of dreams and the pain one goes through to fulfill it. The "one" being a bunch of teenagers and you know how school life is incomplete without a little bit of rivalry, competition and the need to win over everyone else. Dream High is a combinations of sacrifice and dreams. Realizations as well. The cast is superb, the best teen cast out there. I liked all the female leads for the first time in a drama but Suzy could've controlled her stiffness. The music's good with the theme song being my favourite. You know, the title song that starts with a violin is nice. Rewatch value for me is good coz I watch the scenes (mostly IU and WooYoung's - The Milky Couple) when I stumble upon it. Overall, its a one time watch for me and for the competition thrill.
P.S - Its much much MUCH much much MUCH better than Dream High 2. :-|
So go watch it once.

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Completed
From Me to You
10 people found this review helpful
May 1, 2013
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
To be honest, I did not watch the anime version of Kimi ni Todoke. And haven't watched it yet as well. I'm writing this review after watching the movie for a second time.
Story : CUTE&SWEET;. These two words describe it the best. Its heart-warming and relates very well to people who hold little similarity with Sawako's character. Also it shows the bond of friendship that involves sacrifice, strength, togetherness, trust, love, belief against all odds.
It shows how a quiet person can be misunderstood because of their no efforts on socializing. And also cherry blossom trees play a very wonderful part in the movie.
Acting : I love Miura's character. He proves that he is best suited for the role of Kazehaya. So, if you're a BIG fan of Hamura Miura, he's all the reason why you should watch this. I really liked Yano-san and Yoshida-san as well and Sawako's sincerity towards them. Also a special mention on Sawako's parents who love her unconditionally because no matter how she was to the world, she was their precious jewel. :)
Music : I didn't really hear much of the soundtrack as the acting by everyone kept me happy at bay. But I'm sure, it'd be nice.

I watch it when I stumble upon it. Its a very light story and will make you smile. A very simple story, yet hooking. If my will could be forced on everyone who like Miura and this kind of genre, I'd make you watch it :P
Happy Watching :)

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Completed
Pinocchio
12 people found this review helpful
Jan 16, 2015
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 10
Okay, so let me break this down for you.
I just completed this drama half an hour back and I'm already missing it. Believe me when I say that one of the things I avoid doing the most is touching any currently airing drama. Suspense and waiting for the next week is like taking multiple gun shots! Initially, I did that with Pinocchio, until the 7th or 8th episode. When suddenly saw netizens storming on about Pinocchio, I couldn't run away from the temptation! And ended up making stupid promises to myself such as ' I'll just watch the first episode, see how it is, and give it a full run from the 2nd episode onwards until it ends'.
But boy oh boy, I watched all the 7/8 episodes aired by then, in one day and took a stab for realizing that now I had to start waiting for another damn week. Hard times! (if you're a drama addict, you know what I mean :P)

I'll go by the rating table. Story? Here let me ask you this, what do you think would come out of the drama written by the same team of writers who gave us "I Hear Your Voice", teaming up again with Lee Jong Suk? Yes, a great story with all the elements one expects after watching the trailer. Actors? Honestly, I had few concerns about Park Shin Hye but I'm glad she lived up well to her character of Choi In Ha, a character outline I liked when I read about it on various websites. Lee Jong Suk was awesome as always. I liked Lee Yoo Bin since "Innocent Man" and liked her even more in this drama especially, her character's story with Hwang Gyo Dong (Lee Pil Mo). It was very cute and I think it was a good idea to add such light comedy to the drama. I liked everyone's acting from both MSC and YGN news company. Kim Young Kwang moved me in the last few episodes, trust me. Special mention to Kim Hae Sook as Park Ro Sa (Seo Bum Jo's mom) who portrayed the character of a villain pretty well.

Soundtrack? Instead of doing an online search on the OST list, I waited for all the tracks to play in the drama which made me like them even more. "Non-fiction" by Echo is my favorite track. (:
What more should I do to actually/ literally tell you that this drama is worth watching for its story, cast and music because I rated it a 10, both for Rewatch Value (I don't rewatch much) and this drama as an Overall?
If you're into stories such as this one, it'll be worth it. Enjoy! :)

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Completed
Q10
8 people found this review helpful
May 25, 2013
9 of 9 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
Of course, I landed on Q10 because of Sato Takeru. I mean, didn't most of us did? And at first I was pretty startled at the title and thought that it'll be the typical "human-robot-love-story".
But its not that "same" cyborg story we've all once heard or seen. It is a story of a boy who didn't know what feeling love held until he met Kyuto (the girl robot). Learning to love through a robot who is solely made for you :) Well, that caught me.
The acting cast is good and I believe that Heita's character couldn't be played by anyone else other than Take-kun alone. Atsuko-chan's acting and delivering the dialogues in a "straight-frank-mechanical" tone was good (won't judge hard as it would've took her so much practice to speak like that!). And yeah, the side characters did good as well.
Music is really nice. Instruments such as using xylophone to create sound matching to that of a robot is a pretty good idea. My favorite is "Heartbreak" played completely on the guitar and "Love" played partly on the piano.
The drama made me feel the right amount of sadness without stretching further and keeping the fact that "Heita loved Kyuto as much as he loved the world". Although I do admit that it took me time to understand the ending but nonetheless if you talk about re-watching this, I have been re-watching its last episode since the day I finished watching it.
I like short melodramas. And this one was a cute one. :) Give it a try .

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Completed
Me too, Flower!
9 people found this review helpful
Apr 13, 2013
15 of 15 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
To tell you honestly, when Me Too Flower premiered in 2011, I ignored it. When it was subbed later in 2012, I ignored it again. By reading the plot of the drama on the web, I ignored it. And now in 2013, I watched "Flower Boy Next Door" and got intimidated with Yoon Shi Yoon's acting in it, which is worth applauding. Then I hovered over his other dramas and completed "Baking King : Kim Tak Goo", which is again where he depicts wonderful acting skills!
So this is how I stopped on Me Too Flower and when I started watching, I had tears of regret for ignoring it. For there were times in the story line that were comedy and I liked them. Yeah, coming to the story line, its a light romance story. And the way this love has been directed is nice. I have many favorite scenes in this drama that are worth watching again. Acting being so fine, it made it amazing. Shi Yoon and Ji Ah's roles were amazing on screen and also Han Go Eun acted good as the main villain in power. The last episode is meaningful, for people who have experienced or are going through something like this. "Love has no condition".
The OST is great, suiting every scene. This particular track that plays in every romance scene, "Love you, Love you..", a female voice, makes the scene so alive that you wanna go out and scream.

Overall, I would ask ya'll to give it a go. I ignored it, I regret it. But then at the end of the day, I knew I would watch it. And its worth enough to hook your heart to! :)

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Completed
King2Hearts
12 people found this review helpful
Apr 1, 2013
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10
King2Hearts is an amazing drama for people who want some kind of action put into a great twisted and turned story and awesome soundtrack to actually make you feel the tension. The cast is mind blowing, especially the villain doing the best acting. The plot is quite amazing, the way its directed for us is beautiful. Whoever wrote the story for this series, is a genius. The action and romance filled with complications of being from rival country. They portrayed a great underlying scene of the marriage of The South Korean prince to A North Korean Military Officer.
Lee Seung Gi and Ha Ji Won have always been strong at acting. Seung Gi's ''My Girlfriend is A Gumiho'' was okay, but in this he definitely proves himself as an actor. Music's completely hooking with the "political" background plot. Re watch Value for me is quite high as I would love to watch it over again, when no interesting dramas premiere.
Overall, its good if you want to sit on your chair and flow with the story as it unfolds, translation : It keeps you hooked to your place! ;)

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Completed
The Innocent Man
11 people found this review helpful
Apr 24, 2013
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.0
I can finish this review in one line. Great story, Outstanding Acting, Amazing Music, Extremely Re-watchable and Perfect Overall.

I really like dramas that impress me beyond their promotion pictures or a raw summary provided before its premiere and dramas that involve a story of revenge and betrayal because these two emotions contribute extremely in the suspense and anxiousness of the story that keeps you hooked and if you're hooked then those actors, directors, crew members etc. have succeeded. This drama had everything I wished to see.

Park Si Yeon did an amazing job of making me hate her by acting SO real. Song Joong Ki portrayed the two sides so well that I was intrigued by both 'bad and nice' through out. Moon Chae Won is an all rounder with that perfect Korean accent and soft soft-spoken, calm voice she has. Kwang Soo and Yoo Bi, Yang Ik June, Lee Sang Yeob and Kim Tae Hoon were best at their roles.

The prolonged title is very attractive."Sesang Eodiedo Eobneun Chakan Namja"(A Nice/Kind/Gentle/Good-hearted/Pure/Innocent Man,the Likes of Which You Can't Possibly Find Anywhere in this World).

The OST has touched me very personally. It has the element of throwing away trust, taking the blame in love, loneliness, melancholy, change, darkness, chaos, calmness in every little thing in life, protection and the feeling of impatience for the sun to rise all night. It sets the mood of the drama and keeps you trapped.
I will watch it again because I was not disappointed for even a moment. It is just my kind of genre. I hope you'll be touched by it.
Go now. Watch it. :)

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Completed
Moon Embracing the Sun
11 people found this review helpful
Apr 15, 2013
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Yeah, you can see my rating table. Its filled up with outstanding score. A 10 everywhere! This is once again a marvelous piece of work and before writing about it, I'd like to say that anyhow YOU SHOULD JUST GO AND WATCH IT.
Story? Oh my, its hooking. I never thought I would like it, really. All the political-romance genre, I really did not prefer. But start with it and you'll get the magic of how beautifully this story is woven together to create a masterpiece! The one who wrote this, is a genius. I love the title as well, the first key to attract a viewer to a drama.
Acting/Cast? Amazing. The way Han Ga In portrays entrapment and execution tension is worth the watch. Kim Soo Hyun just rocked his role and Jung Il Woo's by far the best performance in a historical drama! The child actors were just great.
Music? THIS IS WHAT HELPS YOU GET THE DRAMA'S CHARM! The OST of this is the fantasy, history, politics and the romance of this drama. Its just pure lure into the story.
Rewatch value? I would love to watch now or then. I have, though, already gone through it twice. Will take out time for a third one! ;)

Overall,it is a easy drama to finish. It keeps you hooked and very early you realize that you're attracted to it. I use caps lock when I mean it so, GO WATCH IT!

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Completed
Autumn's Concerto
9 people found this review helpful
Apr 17, 2013
34 of 21 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.0
This was the first Taiwanese drama I watched after my friend kept pestering me about exploring Taiwanese world of dramas. But after watching Autumn's Concerto, I realize it was not pestering but a gift of such a classic.

The story is just great (although I have seen some Indian serials with the same story line) but Taiwanese direction made it more amazing. The acting from Ady An to Xiao Xiao and Vaness Wu, they make the perfect family cast I've ever seen. The main leads look so compatible with each other that you actually start imagining them as an actual-real life family!And the side actors won't disappoint you as well. Everyone contributes beautifully. I loved the second leads as well, Xu Tiffany and Wu Chris. They are both equally good looking and attractive on screen.

MUSIC!!! The whole Original Sound Track is just marvelous! "Wo Ai Ta", "Family","I thought" etc are so nice. It makes you feel the emotion of the scene where it is played.
Re watch value is high. I watch it when I wanna remember the amazing scenes from this drama because the acting is worth your time.

I'd like to make a special judgement as well. The dialogue writer of this drama is awesome. There are some many quotes from this drama that are actually worth remembering.
The most famous one being, “Did you know that in the skating ring, if you give your hands to the other person it means that your life is in his hands? I said that I will hold on to you so that means I promise to protect you, no matter what…” – Guang Xi.

Overall, its very nice and it will touch your heart. Don't keep it any longer on the "Plan To Watch" list. GO WATCH IT! :)

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Completed
Heartstrings
7 people found this review helpful
Apr 19, 2013
15 of 15 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
You should watch this if you love Kang Min Hyuk (drummer of CN Blue). He stole the spotlight, at least for me. Park Shin Hye has always been a favorite and yet again she plays the happy-go-lucky-bright-outgoing girl really well.Jung Yong Hwa might be liked by many but the coldness that he played in Heartstrings was a little too much at the start and calmed out a little as the drama progressed. So, I was not quite impressed with his acting.

The story was a decent one. Not a jewel that you'd preserve or a 'out of box' memory. Also, at times it got a little slow. But the humour is satisfying. I liked Gyu Won's grandfather as well. :P

Music is the amazing part of the drama. Modern or traditional, I liked both genre OST. Look out for some really quirky tracks that you'd like.

Scenes such as competitions in the university are actually quite good. In the middle of the series, I started feeling as if Park Shin Hye was a gayageum artist rather than an actress. Also I liked her neutral, light wardrobe.

Re watch for me is 5 because I have mixed feeling for this drama. Whoever liked it would wanna watch it continuously. Overall, for me its a one time serve on the plate that made me full.

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Completed
Faith
7 people found this review helpful
Apr 11, 2013
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
I'll go through my judging panel wise.
1) Story? Oh, its genius. I have never liked supernatural and time travel on real life characters except "Back To The Future Series". But this story line is mind blowing. The depiction of a gone era and its generation in relevance to the present era and its respective generation. The perspective of how it is now and how it was back then. The warrior-doctor love story was sewed amazingly. The action kept me in their grip. This is another one beside "King2Hearts". Whoever liked "King2Hearts" would surely like this!
2) Acting/Cast? Oh, again a marvelous casting team made the story embrace you by coming alive. How Lee Min Ho is concerned for Kim Hee Sun. And watch out for the acting. It was what made this drama.
3) Music? My favorite is the Princess Nogoong's track by Ali. And also the main song! The score's wonderful.
Overall, Good work. Although directions and enhancement of a scene at some points could have been much better but somehow at the end of the show you feel that it has been compensated anyhow! I liked it.

Now, do you really wanna ask me about the rewatch value? :P
I don't think so. Go and watch it!

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Completed
Asuko March!
4 people found this review helpful
Apr 26, 2013
9 of 9 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
It is a good drama that gives you morals and teachings of staying together, friendly and happily with everyone. It teaches you faith and how strong the power of just trying something out without thinking of giving up or what the results will be like. Also, if you're in a situation like Takei Emi (in this drama), you can gain some tips from her through out these 9 episodes! :P
The story's the normal high school plot. Cast is good and the music's less but compensating.
For me it is a one time watch. It makes you happy and realize that you can't just sit back and miss the awesome school life because your friends and ambitions make you realize what you want to pursue in future :)
Overall, its a drama of hope, goodness, faith, dreams, aspirations, learning and never backing down. A light drama and easy to finish.

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Completed
Dream High Season 2
7 people found this review helpful
Apr 17, 2013
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.5
I know, the "Not Helpful" button will be much more visible after some of you read this but I think you should just hear my opinion about it once.

Dream High 2 is just what comes to my mind when my friends ask me to watch something boring, dreadful and just to pass the damn hot-summer day by commenting how useless the drama is. The story is decent. Its no jewel out of the box. The actors are the only reason why I finished it, by skipping here and there, by ignoring some parts or by predicting the rest (which turned out to be exactly the way I thought!). Im Jae Bum, Ji Yeon, Ailee and Hyorin are the only ones to look out for.
The music's not something that makes you completely hooked. Kang So Ra's and Im Jae Bum's dating parts are just childish!
For me re watch value is up to NIL, but because of HerShe group and Im Jae Bum, I give it a 1.5 .
Overall, I regret watching it. Now you go decide if you want to keep high expectations of the second part or re watch the first part instead?
But whoever saw this drama the way I saw it, you are more than welcomed to click the "Helpful" button.

Now go hit whatever button you like.

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Completed
Goong
7 people found this review helpful
Apr 15, 2013
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This was my very first entry into Korean dramas. Well, my very first into dramas. I watched it in 2010 through a Eng subbed CD my friend gave me with a challenge that I'll like it. And oh my, Princess Hours/ Goong has been a special part of my journey that started from it.
When I was watching it, I never knew that it had been so popular in its premiering year.
Story? It was good. The royalty twist in it was new for me(Well, everything was new then!). I have always liked the "rich-prince-commoner-future-princess" or vice versa kind of stories. They are like a fantasy for young girls. Adding on to it, the story was about young love in front of tradition, family that is governs the country and politics that is too new for them. The plot was good and the direction of the whole drama tells you about the culture of Modern Korea.
Acting/Cast? Oh, Shin Chae Kyung, the marvelous!! Song Ji Hyo and Yoon Eun Hye acted SO real. Music? Well, Goong's traditional OST attracted me. The gayageum sounds and the flute mixture was amazing. It makes you experience so much about the cultural folk music of Korea.
Re-watch value? Hahaha, I have watched this drama for 8-9 times already and if I stumble upon that CD again, who knows that I must just watch it again and relive the memories!

Overall, its good. Although I do think that it could have been a little shorter, but it was enjoyable. The show and the characters in it have their moments, really sweet ones as well. It got dragged after a bit, but I think you should give it a go once! You'll love Shin Chae Kyung and the way she ventures into palace life! :)

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