Am I the only one? Where's the sunshine?

What went wrong here, Scriptwriter?
We started off at a seriously slow pace suggesting meticulous character development, although it wasn't the most interesting drama airing presently, I settled in to see what it had to offer. Annnd then the ex and boyfriend fought the MLs slanderers, next it was three years later (we figure this out from the dialogue), and boom! The end was slapped in our faces, leaving us with that 'wait, what the hell just happened and where is the rest of the story' feeling.
I feel like the director didn't enforce a particular standard and just told the leads to 'go with it naturally', and for a slice of life drama, the emotional scenes are surprisingly flat. I felt no chemistry between the leads but somehow I was okay with it. The two younger leads had better chem and repped their parts well. The scriptwriter could have given the MLs parents less domestic meltdown scenes in favour of actual plot pivotal events. Shelving this drama in the #TheDramaItCouldHaveBeen category. Wasted potential.

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If only the secondary characters had been allowed more room to bloom.

I almost dropped it at episode 32.
I really tried to like this drama but by episode 10+, I realised I was slowly starting to look forward to the secondary characters story and would have stayed if they have been given say...five minutes tops every episode from 10 upwards. And then when episode 32 happened, I just couldn't fake it anymore 😭.
I couldn't pretend even for the dramatics of Dingfei and I really wanted to see more of the Jie-hui and Lu-Yin couple. Oh the story it could have been!
I was highly expectant of cast and story even after the basicality it decided to adhere to right after the sixth episode. That commonly plot vice of going back in time and wondering why the new timeline is not sticking to the script after hijacking it, then scrambling around trying to make it work and causing disastrous results. It ain't that drama for me, but you could enjoy it. Try it.

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A drama that checks all its troupes boxes right down to the very last one.

Cute FL — check
Eccentric Handsome ML — check
Forceful cohabitation — check
Naive ML — check
FL has an disorder only ML can cure, he realises it, he doesn't like it but puts up with it and as a result, falls first and hard— check
He doesn't like it but will endure for her — check
Loads of 'cute' filler scene — check
FL goes all out for ML because naive FL keeps tripping— check
For god sakes everything is too cute in here — check.

LOL!!

This script was written according to a formula and it's so obvious. It's not a bad drama to watch, provided you're not looking for anything serious.

Very predictable plot so far, it's not the kind of drama one can binge watch, it's the kind one remembers they're still watching when they're not watching anything and continue from where they left off. I'll watch it slowly.

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Xueji stole my heart in this show.

Very unique drama, the females in here ruled, which I didn't even know I needed in my drama watching life since all we get is damsels in distress most of the time.
It's an easy drama to watch, many hilarious and also heart tugging scenes in here,
I fell out of touch with this drama at some point, there was a jump that disconnected me but Empress Xueji kept me watching it and I'm glad I did, it was genuinely refreshing to see a human empress not focused on making life for the harem populace miserable. I have high hopes for this actress.
Good show. I recommend.

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Action thriller? Heck no, this drama is pure comedy. I enjoyed it

So, the Bureau of Ninja Management excludes but is not limited to the following, because it actually has many a sour faced members:

The Tawara Family, a bonus red phone of doom, and Karen the reporter, exciting stuff fr.

A ninja suffering from survivors guilt and can't 'kill'.
The other is a kleptomaniac who develops remorse only three days after a steal and takes it back, which she appears to have inherited from her mother, except her mother doesn't take her supermarket booty back, the daughter is into museum artifacts though (and she has an Instragram account where she posts her spoils, imagine that), and all this is for the excitement because they miss being ninjas, because of their lost one, and because the father put his foot down, hmmm.
Did an American scriptwriter write this story? Because the more I watched, the more I thought this show was mislabeled.

Now, the father and head of the Tawara family, brewery owner who hires people based on days and colours and a ninja in denial by night and when he's at home, the man is so conflicted he can't even swing a drink, while the last Tawara kid is just cute and eagle eyed, you know how kids know you've done something and they weren't even looking, except this one is looking, lol. And he gets upset when he discovered his parents have been keeping the secret about the family secrets, ends up shutting the door in their faces until they explained themselves, hmmm, not convincing behaviour for an Asian kid istg or are the new gen kids built differently? Because the parents aren't 😅.

A grandma ninja who still got it and always laughing at the breakfast table every other episode and she can talk with her shoulders and face y'all, without a sound escaping her mouth (it looked like flirting to me, why that scene didn't have sub, I will never know (I liked her a lot more).

Oh and there's a cult full of clapping-in-perfect-sync and very enthusiastic members who laugh, scream and cry when the voice tells them to, including holding hands while standing around a shrub without even singing kumbaya because why not?

Basically a family traumatised by the eldest son's death.
That scene where Haru saves Karen from the train racks, that's a new PPL style for shoes, it worked fr. I even looked them up online.

Boy the way Omi-san was framed for stealing those artefacts was genius, the naked with the box over his thingy was over the top, who does that? Is it a coming out? Ha!

I think Haru has been watching the dirty when he's not having nightmares, cause the way he was working Karen's mouth didn't look very virgin-like to me, huhu.

And who knew swordplay and a little blood spilling was all it took for Haru's parents to start banging again, it's a happy ending y'all.

Because what do you mean the guy is shocked his arm didn't grow back or sew itself back on, omo the way I couldn't stop laughing at that scene, heheheh!
I wanted Haru to finish wannabe Thanos off but of course Gaku the glory seeking guy waltz in to kill the man as unceremoniously as it could get, why didn't he try to kill him before until one of his arms came off? Hmmm!
I really can't take anything in this drama seriously LMAO!

I have mixed feelings about this drama and couldn't take anything in it seriously because it was ridiculous (including the OSTs because it looks like they've run out of jpop songs or did those simply not exist in Demon Gate Era Japan?)
I'm happy it had me laughing out loud the whole time, but I won't be rewatching it again. I'm out.

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A hidden gem: Now this is how you write a slice-of-life script!

I have to admit that it could be a hit or miss depending on who is watching, but for me, this drama served as a pleasant and delightful surprise, from the pacing, to character development (zero cheesy acting, even the little kid held his own), the OST and ending.
From the abandoned woman who discovered new lows and new highs, to the kid who lost a father and found another, to the woman who realised what she was blindly holding unto for years was not what she actually wanted or deserved, everything fits my preference and I wish we had more dramas like this!
I'm not really into contemporary C-dramas but this one actually surprised me. Anyone knows anymore dramas like this? Please help with recommendations, thank you!

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