I usually don't watch school dramas unless there's a secondary plot that can convince me to watch them as they tend to be slice of life dramas centering around students and teachers. I actually had glimpses of the drama few years ago on KBS World but it didn't grab me back then. So when KBS World decide to reair the drama after about 6+ years, I might as well take my time to finally watch this properly.

School dramas tend to be also be a coming of age dramas where you see stories of kids learning about life and grow into fine adults. Master of Study was like this too, in fact at first glance the drama had some similar vibe with the likes of GTO and Gokusen dramas. Like Baekhyeon was a rebellious troublemaker whose only living family was his grandmother, Chandu was from a well-off family but he had zero interest in study, Pulip's mother runs a bar, Bonggu was often bullied by his classmates due to his appearance and Yunjeong's parents both divorced and remarried leaving her to fend for herself on her own. This and the fact that all five kids belong in the lowest class and the worst school just screams at you as a typical setting of a lot of school dramas featuring delinquent kids. But that's as far as comparison goes.

Something I like about Master of Study was the fact that aside from being a drama about a former delinquent trying to get five students from his former school to start studying hard to enrol into a very good college, the drama also include tips to help students to pick up some study skills to improve themselves. And it had a great message about how even the most problematic kid can bring about great achievement if you're patient enough to listen to them and guide them on the right paths.

Seungho as Hwang Baekhyeon was really a right call. He really played the role of a proud highschool delinquent who's rough in appearance but a softie to his grandmother to perfection. I really love his character so much, he's such a charmer. Whenever I see Baekhyeon cry or trying his hardest not to cry after being scolded harshly by his teachers, my heart really goes to him. Even more when his grandmother got really sick and Baekhyeon really broke down in tears. It was a pity that Seungho didn't get Top Excellence award for his performance as Baekhyeon back then because personally, I felt that he really performed well. I mean as much as the story focused on the Seokho trying to get the five problematic students to Cheonha, the main character that really carried the whole story was Baekhyeon. If not because of the conflict between Kang Seokho and Baekhyeon, a lot of things in the drama wouldn't have happened the way it has. As much as Seokho's intervention affected the attitudes of the teachers and students of Byungmoon High, Baekhyeon's growth and hardship do influence the other kids and special class teachers to also do their best in achieving their goals. And having both Kim Sooro and Yoo Seungho play the respective characters were really a good choice. Sooro and Seungho really made a pretty good combo together.

And I also love the character of Ms Han Sujeong played by Bae Doona. She's really a very good teacher to the five students from the special class. Ms Han's growth from being an English teacher who hasn't quite gain any respect her student into a very passionate teacher who'd go all out to support her students was really great. I really love the relationship Ms Han had with her students especially with Baekhyeon. Not to mention that the parallel between Seokho's relationship with his teacher and Sujeong's relationship with Baekhyeon and how that reflect on the way Seokho act around them, made the characters very relatable. As in, Kang Seokho seeing himself in Baekhyeon and that gave him the strong motivation to want to be a good mentor to Baehyeon and it was endearing to see how the two started to became close despite how much the two tend to clash with each other.

I love the fact that this drama showed how one could try making learning such an enjoyable experience and show that it's not impossible to achieve good grades as long as you have the determination to study hard to achieve it. Somehow now I felt like watching or read the original Dragon Zakura series. Because the story setting was that endearing.

While some may argue that some of the study method shown in the drama was pretty extreme and illogical, pay in mind that the story was about someone trying to get five students who needed to catch up on 5+ years worth of school learning in one year in order to score well on their entrance exams. That goal alone was almost impossible at first glance so if there's any way to even achieve such feats would be by using really extreme study methods.

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I took quite a bit of time to finish watching this drama but I'm glad that I finally did. This is a sweet and beautiful drama, thanks to Shin Sekyung and Cha Eunwoo and lighthearted enough to be enjoyed while also having some serious bits of plot here and there and at the end. But mind you, as much as the drama was about historians doing their jobs, the setting itself was quite fictional; as in there weren't any such king that have been dethroned in the way depicted in this drama and no female historian were ever established. And while some of the key scenes like the arrival of Christianity to Joseon, the beginning of the vaccination practices of treating small poxes as well as groups taking interest in science were based on real life events, the events didn't actually happen as it's portrayed in the drama. So as long as you're aware of that, you should be able to enjoy this drama as it is.

So far to date, there weren’t any other dramas that actually focused on historians in the time period and the kind of work they do. I mean, you do see them in some other stories but they rarely became the central role. Because of that, it was interesting to see how such profession could have functioned during the Joseon period. And I have to say that it was interesting to see how the early methods to vaccination to treat a disease first started or how the process of compiling daily records of the palace were compiled into annals.

That aside, the drama also had some romcom elements like the romance between Prince Dowon and the rookie historian Goo Haeryung, which also had some kinda triangle with a senior historian Min Uwon. There were also a few other pairs like the relationship between the Crown Prince with fellow rookie historian Song Sahui, amongst a few others. And it was fun to see how the characters juggle between doing their job and romance as well as deciding where should their loyalties stand as the historians fought in making sure that history was written and recorded accurately.

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Wasn't planning to watch this remake to be honest, but I guess things just happened. I mean I just happened to find this remake movie so I might as well watch it. I have to say that of the two remakes of Blind, this version followed the original much more closely compared to the Japanese one. Not just in the base plotline but also in the way certain scenes were filmed. But I guess it's inevitable to see how similar the movie was directed, considering this film was directed by the same person who directed the original Blind.

That said, even as this remake was very similar to the original and not as loosely adapted as it had been with the Japanese version, there were still some details that were written differently. As the screenwriter for this movie would've added or changed certain elements of the plot to appeal to the Chinese audience. And for people who have seen the original and the Japanese remake, noticing the different details have to be one of the things that will stood out to you.

For one, the dead brother in this movie was written to be an aspiring singer instead of a b-boy. The way the brother died was similar to the original except the part where instead of a handcuff, the brother was tied to the car with a chain. The motive for the killer also slightly changed and written to have a bit more connection to Xiaoxing. As with the latter Japanese remake, this movie also incorporated the use of social medias and dating apps. Which wasn't in the original. In a way, this Chinese remake was like a cross between the Korean original and the Japanese remake, even when the latter was made much later than this version.

Lin Zhong was written to be a young skater, and I guess that's what influenced the Japanese remake to have Haruma being a skateboarder. And rather than the orphanage being that place of memories for our main witness and her late brother, this movie changed it into an old villa.

It was interesting to see what kind of details were presented differently in this remake compared to the original. The obvious ones being Xiaoxing and Lin Zhong's initial report on what they noticed and saw during the hit-and-run case. Like a lot of the details that originally was revealed and found out much later ended up being laid out from the very start, which kind of removing a bit of the mystery from the original movie. Other than that would be the subway chase from the original being changed into a chase inside an empty mall in this remake. Unlike the original and the Japanese remake, this Chinese version didn't reveal whether or not Xiaoxing did decide to resume her police training nor have Lin Zhong aspire to follow her same footstep. And the casualties in both Korean and Japanese version met different fates in this movie, in which while in itself shouldn't be bad, it makes me wonder what's the point of the killer still being referred to as a serial killer when his part was changed so much that he didn't really kill most of his victims.

Overall, watching this remake was interesting. It was nice to pick up on the different details and similar visual cues and compare how the different remakes recreate the scenes from the original movie. On its own, the movie was fine as it is. But if you love and enjoyed the original Blind, then you may end up finding this movie a bit lacking. Compared to this remake, the original was portrayed to be much more mysterious. There were parts in the original that were written to be very vague while this remake revealed some details much more clearly.

Though, having said that... I'm not sure why this remake decide to change the killer's motivation... as well as the fact that he hadn't end up killing any of his victims but people who ended up caught in his action and trying to create more connection to the blind witness, which did not exist in the original. But that aside, the movie was fine on its own. There's quite an overuse of a certain song that I first heard from the movie Storm Riders but that's it.

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Was randomly looking up stuff to watch and thought that I might as well watch an old movie when Seungho was much younger. And since it's a murder mystery, that's another plus point.

I have to say that it's interesting to see Yoo Seungho, Kang Sora and few other familiar faces looking a lot younger than I usually see them. And it amused me to see Park Chulmin in this movie as well, acting as Junghoon's teacher.

Half of me wished that this movie could've been much longer, like there are some parts that I wished had been elaborated further but it served the purpose. The mystery of the true killer wasn't really too complicated yet still kept me guessing until the end. The movie really provide quite a suspense with the chases by a secondary suspect and later the actual killer as Dajung and Junghoon tried to escape with their lives.

Like I mentioned earlier, there was quite a few loose ends remained unresolved, in which it may feel like watching an incomplete story but overall still an entertaining thriller.

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Yet another drama that revolved around King Gwanghae and the people of his household. When it was announced that Jung Il-woo would be playing Bawoo a single father who worked as someone who bossam widows to allow them to remarry I immediately got taken to the plot. Having first known him from Haechi, I was interested to see some more of his works.

Aside from the whole Bossam plot, I was also intrigued by the plot regarding King Gwanghae and Princess Hwa In. In a way, it made me think about Tale of Nokdu plot. But instead of the story of the king's abandoned son finding love and indirectly involved with the dethronement of King Gwanghae, this time, it was the daughter who had been abandoned. It's was kinda interesting to see a different retelling of what could've happened that led to the dethronement as well as a different portrayal of King Gwanghae in his latter years.

That said, Kwon Yuri did very well in portraying the young widowed Princess Hwa In. Despite this role being her first attempt at a sageuk drama, Yuri managed to bring out the grace and nobility of a royal princess who ended up being widowed even before her marriage.

Jung Il-woo as Bawoo was really wonderful. At first glance, you wouldn't have imagined that this ruffian who kidnaps widows for a living would have such a difficult past, but then the more you see how he lived the more you could understand why he acted that way. I really love the child actor who played his son, they really acted well together. And the story of how this pair of father and son ended up having their lives changed after meeting Princess Hwa In was really so sweet.

I first got to know Shin Hyeonsoo from Ruler and was really surprised that he's in this drama. It was nice to see him playing a different character compared to the one in Ruler. I have to say that the drama had some pretty good casting.

I've heard about the practice of kidnapping widows as brides in some cultures and media so it was interesting to learn there was a proper term for that practice. And as much as the political plot had been prominent throughout the drama, I like how the drama started and ended with someone being bossam-ed. That felt like a good way to wrap up the whole story.

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I finally managed to finish watching this drama and was happy that it turned out to be good. This drama was pretty enjoyable when you can just marathon watch it in one go, cos if you watching it as it air you may end up losing interest in the middle as the tension goes down.

This drama was yet another good show featuring a detective with a supernatural telepathic ability to read minds and to my delight, the drama made good use of the plot idea while also showing realistic reaction of how the public would respond knowing that such a person existed. If anyone had seen He is Psychometric, the story had a similar tone though Memorist had a much more darker and sinister cases and mystery.

I've watched quite a number of dramas by Yoo Seungho and grew to really like his character Dongbaek in this drama. As always Seungho was able to bring out the sincerity of the character and the anguish felt by Dongbaek, enough to make you care about him to keep watching the drama. You just can't help rooting for Dongbaek as he continues to push forward to save lives while also being cornered into unfavourable situations.

That said, at first I wasn't really taken in with Lee Seyoung as the profiler character, Han Sunmi. Though that probably also influenced by my initial impression of the actress from her character in Korean Odyssey, to which I had some mixed feelings about. But once I set that bias aside, I was able to like the character as Han Sunmi's pasts and motivations were unveiled.

The cases featured in Memorist were written quite well. And while there were some pretty hard cases that involved implications of rape as well as religious cult stuff that may be a bit unbearable, the rest of it was pretty fine. The mystery elements as well as supernatural were pretty balanced with the normal detective stuff so it was good enough to draw you more into the story without making it too unbelievable. And I love the fact that as much as there were a lot of corruption in the drama like the many abuse of powers by people of influence, the drama still had a lot of hope for things to become better. And the writing of the Eraser and Executioner character was done so well that it didn't feel out of place when those characters started to be redeemed. Only thing I regret was that I wished the drama could be longer because Dongbaek was really such a lovable character.

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It was rare to see a drama tackling the story revolving trauma cleaners; like the first time I've heard of the term it was on some detective story I think and it was a minor mention, so it was great to see one drama that touched this topic.

This drama was really soothing and comforting... especially for people who may have a hard time dealing with deaths of people dear to them and how it affected everyone around them. And I like how the drama had been written and how layered the stories were. Like on one hand we get to see how and what was involved in the trauma cleaning work as well as the untold stories of people who may have died alone with no one to take care of the things they left behind. On the other hand, we're also seeing how through the trauma cleaning work, Geurum and Sanggu were also indirectly attempting to accept the death of their loved ones.

I especially love the focus on Sanggu's character. Like at the beginning he wasn't too keen on becoming a guardian to his nephew and helping out with the trauma cleaning job. Yet as time went on we get to see him getting used to the job and clear his misunderstanding against his deceased older brother.

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I've finally finished watching this at last. Fair to say, when the live action adaptation was announced, I was worried about how would they approach the show and adapt it into a movie. Since I'm not sure that there would be any plans for any other subsequent continuation and I'm a bit biased as I'm really fond of the live action musical casts.

But the movie turned out to be fine, not really what I'd expected it to be concluded but it was fine enough to be a standalone movie adaptation. Love the CGI effects and the cinematic setting. It would've been nice if there were actually plans to adapt the Soul Society Arc as well, but at least there's the old Rock Musical Bleach to fill that hole.

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This movie was listed as an Action/Comedy genre but really the comedic parts were barely noticeable and were more cute than comical. That's fine to be honest as it added some charm points to the characters and made them lovable.

Jo Jungsuk as Yongnam was very adorable as a character. It's very cute to see him very passionate about his hobby to keep practicing his skills and maintaining his fitness. In which it ended up being quite useful during his attempt to save his family and himself from the dangerous toxic gas.

Yoona as Yongnam's ex who also used to take part in the rock-climbing/mountaineering hobby makes a great counterpart to Jungsuk's character. It was so cool to see them climbing walls and jumping from building to building in order to reach safety, using the skills that they know. It was a terrifying experience to go through but they still braved it out and still managed to selfless whenever they found other people more in need of saving than themselves. It made their characters so endearing and makes you wanna cheer for them to success in saving themselves. It was really heartwarming especially when you see so many people trying to help them by sending out their own drones to find them.

This movie was really fun and keeps you on your toes to see how the fate of the characters will turn out in the end. It's a really good disaster movie with great action that'll keep you rooted on the spot. And the Superhero song at the end really wrap the whole package and provide a satisfying ending to the movie.

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Finally managed to finish watching this drama at last. Took me like a while to watch the first half of the series when it was released and then I ended up putting the series on hold for almost two years before picking up this series back.

For someone who truly got into the first season for the unique crime-solving cases and the relationship between Kang Gwonjoo and Moo Jinhyuk as they hunt for the true killer of their loved ones, it certainly get a bit hard to pick up the new season when half of the team members were different. This time, Jinhyuk left the team for his son's treatment and his former team leader takes the mantle to lead the Golden Time Team. Yet before they could even start anything Team Leader Jang was murdered and they ended up transferring to Pungsan to investigate the case.

Well, to be fair... we did still mostly retain the core team from the original Golden Time Team save for Jinhyuk, Daeshik and Officer Oh. And after the events on first season, the remaining members of the GT dispatch teams were in good terms with Gwonjoo. Which is good. Since with a new workplace and work environment, the team will once again face similar issues as they did prior when Gwonjoo first started the special team.

And for this new season, we also get a new Team Leader to lead Golden Time... in the form of Detective Do Kangwoo. At first, I have to say that Kangwoo had a slight different presence compared to Jinhyuk. While Detective Do did appear to be as crazy as Jinhyuk used to be after the death of his wife, Kangwoo was a bit more wild and aggressive compared to the former. And because of that, for people who were used to seeing Moo Jinhyuk leading the team may take a bit of time to get used to Kangwoo.

Unlike the first season, this second season's plot focused more on a group of people seeing revenge towards the police and the Golden Time Team by committing serial crimes that at first appeared to be random. And later on, the plot move towards a targeted attack on Detective Do specifically. In a way, the second series give off a different vibe that you used to get in the first season that may seem off to some. As if the quotes that appear at the beginning of each episode didn't already hint at it.

After a while, you'll start to get used to seeing Detective Do as we start to learn more about him. Even as far as convincing yourself that he might actually be a good addition to the Golden Time Time. And as the series went on, you'll realise that there's more secrets that needed to uncover on the true nature of the people who were targeting the team for revenge. But I guess we'll have to see the third season to see what happens next.

Overall, I have to say that the second season was intriguing. While it wasn’t as tense as the first season or as cathartic in terms of what you ended up feeling after the team successfully save anyone, it certainly served as a good base to introduce the new characters as the plot going full force on the third series. Have to say that it really hits the emotions hard to have a character that you start to get attached to from the first season be killed so brutally so early in the second season but it really felt good to see the Golden Time Team in action again.

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This movie is so fun AF

Finished yet another of Lee Jehoon movies lol, I'm on a roll! Honestly I have to say that either Jehoon was really blessed to be cast in some really good production or he really had a knack at choosing what kind of production that he was gonna be part it. Because really, a lot of the movies he's in that I've watched so far always turned out surprisingly beyond what could've been expected at first glance. Like you'd think that this movie was just about grave robbers stealing artifacts and national treasures for their own profits... but you probably wouldn't expect that these same grave robbers would end up doing a major heroic deed!

Like at first as the movie opened up, we were introduced to the main character, Kang Donggu who may appear to just be a simple grave robber who just want to steal artifacts for his own profits. To which later on he ended up entangled with people who may end up being out of their leagues. At first glance, the whole setting might seem to be uninteresting but you can't be more mistaken about that! The adventure that unfolds afterwards turned out to be as exciting as the original Indiana Jones trilogy!

Lee Jehoon as Kang Donggu was really a good fit for him, like it felt that the character was really written for him and only him. I really couldn't imagine anyone else who could play Donggu better other than Jehoon. Jehoon really made the character to be so charming and quirky yet also have a certain depth as you find out what kind of dark past that Donggu had that made him be so good at being a grave robber. Shin Hyesun as Curator Yoon was really amazing. And seeing how convincing she was while having to speak Chinese and Japanese fluently like a native really shows how good she was as an actress.

Jo Woojin as the Korean Indiana Jones was also so charming. Like I knew him from Goblin, he was so cool as Secretary Kim but he was so charismatic and funny in this movie it was really fun seeing him being paired with Jehoon as the movie's dynamic duo. Im Wonhae was really so funny as the Shoveller, I swear whenever I see him in any show he'll always makes me laugh.

This movie was really funny and exciting and seriously had plenty of colourful characters that you can't help loving. I have to say that this movie immediately become one of my new favourite amongst many other movies that I've watched.

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Pretty cool movie, I really love the noir vibe. The visuals felt like seeing an animated movie that came into life, which was the best kind of noir environment. Hard to believe that the movie was made in 2016, instead of... like few decades earlier.

Making Hong Gildong a detective gave the character a unique kind of appeal compared to how the character was usually written, even more as an eccentric detective that moves like a ghost. Lee Jehoon really brings Hong Gildong's character to life with his portrayal of an eccentric thief-like detective with a mysterious past. Not to mention carrying a painful past.

I love the fact that the movie had Hong Gildong having to go around with two kids on tow in order to locate the person who had ties to his past. Really love the interaction they have between them as Gildong slowly started to open up his heart to the kids despite the kids being the grandchildren of his enemy.

Go Ara was really fit for her role of Chairman Hwang, like she really brings out the classy aura of the person who supported Hong Gildong from the shadows. And I have to say that Kim Sunghyun as the main villain was really cool; like some anime villain archetype, complete with his shiny glasses.

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It's been a while since I watched this drama and ended up rewatching it again as KBS World was currently reairing it. In which I used to recall comparing it with Good Doctor back then due to similar plot setting. As in a medical drama focusing on a special doctor having a special condition that might be beneficial or perhaps dangerous. In Good Doctor it was Park Sion who has Savant syndrome while in this drama it was Lee Jeongo who due to an incident in the past was rendered unable to feel any emotions and was called a psychopath. In both cases, the doctors gain an interest in pursuing medicine and end up becoming somewhat a genius later on. Yet, because of their conditions it made it a bit risky to allow them to operate on patients since they would not be able to understand the limits one should be allowed to pursue.

In that sense, this drama pose an interesting question. Could someone who exhibit traits of a psychopath could be allowed to treat people as a doctor. Could someone like Lee Yeongo learn to emphatize with his patients; despite his conditions, in order to become a good doctor? As the drama unfolds from start to finish, we'll get to see how Jeongo start to learn to sympathize with the help of Gye Jinsung and overcome his disabilities to become a better doctor.

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Wrote this review ages ago so might as well repost here. Well, just half. The rest would be in my blog since it'd be too long to put all here.

So the plot was about a deadly new flu virus hitting South Korea and the CDC team having to try racing against time to find a cure/vaccine to prevent more death from occurring to those infected. There are intricate conspiracies involved as later on the team; led by Squad Leader Lee Myeong Hyeon (Uhm Ki Joon), found out that the mutated virus was intentionally used/released in order for certain parties to gain profits from. Profits? Well, from the vaccine needed to counter the pandemic, of course. In a way, the drama shows how some would go too far in order to profit themselves at the expense of innocent lives. It does make one question the moral codes/ethical values involved.

Having said that, it's kinda sad that the series was only 10 episodes long. Because I would have wanted more, even if it's just the lesser scenes of the smaller fishes being punished. Still, the drama wrapped well... and the open ending kinda promised the possibility of a sequel. Hopefully. Because as long as the big boss was free out there... means that there are still more things for our heroes to fight for.

Personally, I find the ending (and overall plot) well written. And that last few scenes kinda give you an impression that it might be possible for the various flu pandemic to be staged intentionally by people who have the ability to create a more dangerous virus. As the times progress, there was that possibility after all. That in order to gain profit in the field of medicine, one creates a situation that may appear dire. After all, what uses a vaccine can be if there wasn't any virus? And considering they were aiming for a super-vaccine... a super virus must exist first before the use of it could be worth. So yea, a good series.

Frankly, it was an interesting thing... to see Uhm Ki Joon play a good guy. And I can see that this role was quite challenging to him as it required a lot of physical work. Very well done indeed~

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This is my second Dino sentai series that I've watched fully (I only knew Zyuranger and Abaranger through their respective crossover V-cines and cameos) and I have to say that I really love the series a lot. I guess there's something about Dino sentai series that makes you keep wanting to continue watching the series till the end...

Story-wise, the series was quite decent. While there are parts in the series plot were left hanging/unanswered and never addressed again, there are still some parts that were really written well. That aside, I really love Koh. While he's not like the usual traditional Red leaders where they actively assumed the leadership role, he still shared a lot of the traits most often associated with a lot of Red leaders of the past sentai. And he was really the heart of the team that binds everyone together. It's surely a good change after the last Dino Red leader aka Kiryu Daigo from Kyoryuger, who came off a bit too strong for me with his one-man show most of the time.

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