Details

  • Last Online: 15 days ago
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Texas, USA
  • Contribution Points: 3 LV1
  • Roles:
  • Join Date: January 14, 2015

KiRa

Texas, USA

KiRa

Texas, USA
Completed
Birth of a Beauty
26 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Apr 20, 2015
21 of 21 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
So unlike other reviewers I actually didn't like the beginning. It was a little to weird- would have liked it better if we had just known who she was from the start. I think it would have made more sense. I really did not like the 1st episode. In the middle of the series I loved her talking to her old self in the refection. I love the actor who played Sa Geum Ran (Ha Jae Sook) and I liked that we still got to see her. I also liked that they did not change her personality they kind of kept her the same.

What I didn't like was how complicated the simple revenge plot kept getting. She just needed to seek revenge I don't know why people had to go back and forth about what they knew about each other. Near the end It should have built more on what they wanted than to add in the "running away" not running away filler.

What I disliked the most was that everyone seemed Repulsed by Sa Geum Ran, I wish, especially with Han Tae Hee that he would not have been repulsed by her in her "original" form.

Over all though I actually thought it was a pretty good drama overall. Fun, cute and even a little intriguing. The acting was very good, loved and hated almost all the characters. The story had weak points that needed some filler, but it wrapped up well.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Splendid Politics
14 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
May 25, 2016
50 of 50 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 5.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
It took me over 6 months after this show was completed for me to finish watching it, and no that is not because it was 50 episodes, its because it became so monotonous.
So many of the things that I really enjoyed about the drama came to an end around episode 15 with still 35 more episodes of almost nothing really important.
There were so many scenes where the main character just stared "meaningfully" at the camera, or into space, or at each other.
The main character Princess started off as a strong willful and fun character, but then just fell into this "ugh" phase where all she did was act like every other woman in Joseon. I was so disappointed by her. Over all the acting was sub par and the story just got dragged out more and more. Then the "special armory" people who didn't even have a real role would just show up in a scene sitting and talking to each other like they had so much free time, it was so unrealistic. I really like King Gwanghye and the actor in that role but he is not in it long enough, it would have been really interesting if they had made it more about him than her, and King Injo.
It ends with them trying to pull at some heart strings but it just doesn't work, mostly because by that point I was just irritated with all of the characters I didn't see a reason to care. Over all I would not suggest this drama to anyone.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Shine or Go Crazy
13 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Apr 16, 2015
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 5.0
The beginning of this like so many was AMAZING. I loved it starting as a "tall tale". The characters and the actor were solid choices and I almost could not get enough of the show. It was fun, and cute with just enough fantasy thrown in, and it carried its self so well until nearly the end.

Personally I think the trouble started in the last 2 episodes. There was so much talking and no action. So much of this "is she; isn't she" filler and then in the last episode just NOTHING. I wanted to throw things I was so disappointed. It makes no sense as to why you would spend all this time building a love story and then in the end you cant even see the love? I mean were those his kids? her kids? together? or separate partners? and why does he look so upset in the end. Not to mention almost every other character is completely forgotten about in the last episode. I mean what happens to them?

I was so let down in the remaining 2 episodes that I wouldn't even suggest this drama to others.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Heart to Heart
9 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Mar 9, 2015
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
Okay so like a lot of the other reviews I didn't really know what I was getting into with this drama. I just started watching because it was airing and I wanted another filler. By episode 2 though I think I was pretty into it, then episode 4 (watch and you will know why) just made this the cutest drama I have seen in a very long time.

When I say cutest I mean totally the CUTEST drama ever. Lots of admissions of "like" at first and realizing that they are both messed up individuals who need each other to fix each other. Episode 4 was such a step from the norm in dramas and it wasn't even this "I LOVE YOU" type of thing made it even better.

Episode 9 there is a scene that had me ROTFL and I was even more infatuated with this drama.


A little later on around episode 12 there is a change in the story which turned a unique drama kinda typical for me and is the only reason this drama got a 9.5/10. I do not think this "twist" was needed and I wish it could be re-written.

All that said I think it ended well, the characters don't really "fix" each other but help heal everyone. Detective Jang's story was a nice little side story and even the mother and fathers stories. It was a very cute, sweet and mostly unique drama that I would highly recommend.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Playful Kiss
17 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Jan 18, 2015
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
I will probably make some people mad with my review but it needs to be said. I watched this drama because of Kim Hyun Joong and because of positive reviews- this drama seemed to have a following like BOF- but despite Hyun Joong's ability to pull off his aloof character masterfully this drama was frustrating to say the least. I like to yell at characters from time to time (its just part of the experience like watching football- yeah they can't hear you but it makes you fell better) BUT in this drama I just wanted to SLAP Oh Ha Ni (played by Jung So Min). She was just pathetic and submissive and had no substance of her own. I feel like she could have been omitted from the story and it wouldn't have mattered. It was a romance and yet her pathetic nature did not make her enduring like it was intended too, it just made the character pathetic. Additionally some characters seemed to come and go as the series went on and they added no real substance to the story. To the point where I felt I had missed some important part of the story line. Mom and brother were also irritating at times; I mean really if your mom is that involved then she should have just made him get married right out. Brother was a little annoying only because he was continually rude.

I would not suggest this drama to anyone unless they just wanted to watch Hyun Joong be cute.

I am sorry to any fans who loved this drama, but I just found so little redeeming about this drama. If I didn't believe in finishing every drama I start this would have been one of the few I dropped.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Blood
15 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Apr 27, 2015
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
This review may contain spoilers
OMG this show was so so wonderful. I loved it. There was just the right mix of surgery's and vampires. I loved the "transformation" of the vampires. I also really liked the depiction of the vampires being infected by a virus.

I did not like Goo Hye Sun (Ri Ta) acting or character. I was really disappointed in her depiction of such a serious roll. Maybe I am wrong but it just did not fit her. Ahn Jae Hyeon (Ji Sang) was also just alright- he seemed a little stiff. Of course I loved Jung Hea In (Hyun Woo) and LUVVY I mean how could you not.

The story line was very strong and though you could see some sway of the story based on viewer opinions (less surgery as it went on) it still held very well to the story. You kinda end up liking almost everyone.

All that said this entire drama was ruined in the LAST episode. Though things had gone down hill in the last 4 episodes. I held out hope, but then the last one just destroyed it. I can not say more without adding spoilers but its not so much a bad ending as a bad wrap up. Nothing is explained or resolved, we don't really even know what really happens, you just have to guess.

So while the drama had originally earned a higher score from me I had to lower it based on the last episode. So sad.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Warrior Baek Dong Soo
6 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Apr 2, 2015
29 of 29 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
Let me preference this by saying that I love Ji Chang Wook and through this drama I really came to love a lot of the actors and characters. The cast was the most redeeming quality of this drama. On that note as others have mentioned this drama fails on many points. Out of all the sageuk I have watched thus far this one was my least favorite.

The beginning is strong. I loved the story of Dong Soo and Woon. Another reviewer said "epic bromance" and I could not agree more. Even the young actors who played both of them were pretty amazing. I had a few issues primarily with Dong Soo's- deformity and the stupid suit of bamboo that didn't look like it could possibly do anything but those concerns were minimal.

Towards the middle of the drama however everything just comes to a stupid halt. Nothing happens that progressed the story. Ji Sun's character who they act like is integral really becomes a useless figure and I was not a fan of her acting. I think that if she had died I would have been happier with the story line. In the middle all I learned was useless things about ginseng that in no way really helped build the story. Kanzo could have been a really cool character but he too seemed to be so poorly written that even his parts were in no way beneficial.

Towards the end it became really hard to even drag my self to the end. At the end there is a few things that of course are integral and all I can say is that even though I knew he would have to die, I was still balling during his death scene. That said I also had wanted to slap him for his continued "misunderstandings" I mean WHY DID HE NOT TELL THEM THE TRUTH!!! On that note WHAT THE HELL CHO RIP???

Then at the end the "pairing" everyone up was a little unnecessary and didn't really make me feel like anything had been resolved. I was overall just disappointed in the way things started to play out after episode 14. For once it might have actually been better if it had ended somewhere around episode 22.

Overall the acting was good and I liked the characters, but they were poorly written and the writing just got worse as the show dragged on which is why I give it a 7.5

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Kill Me, Heal Me
6 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Mar 19, 2015
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 7.0
There is almost no way to describe this drama much less score it accurately. So starting from the top, there are key points of the story that were amazing but there were also some holes. I don't like to rewrite the summary but basically our main character Cha Do Hyun has split personalities. A total of 7 personalities in one body. He meets a Therapist whom he connects with (for multiple reasons) and she helps him through the discovery of the creation of his personalities. Many of the begging episodes are pretty good, with each personality almost getting their own episodes so you can get the know them.

I did not like one thing about Shin Se Gi - while he is one of my favorites the tattoo is too much. Ahn Yo Na is my favorite personality of all. Hwang Jung Eum(Oh Ri Jin) is the lead female and I was not so impressed with her or her character or her acting. That is all I can say about her really.
The acting of Ji Sung to pull off each of these characters is very impressive. For some of the personalities you can tell he has changed just by watching him. Ji Sung was the key to this drama getting as good of a rating as it did. He was spectacular.

The story over all was good, but once again they tried to wrap it up all too quick. One key problem I had was the appearance of a new personalty at the end, and I wanted more of a back story on a few of the personalities mostly the twin's (I don't feel they were explained as much).

The OST "Auditory Hallucinations" is one of my favorites right now and fits the drama perfectly.

Overall if the drama had been a little more clean at the end I would have rated it higher.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Boys Over Flowers
10 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Jan 16, 2015
25 of 25 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
If you are just starting kdrama's or are looking for one to start with CHOOSE THIS ONE!!! This drama is well loved in a nostalgic kind of way. Compared to more modern dramas it is a little dated, and if its your first might be a little outlandish but that's why it makes such a great 1st choice. It will not be as nostalgic later after you have seen newer better produced dramas but this is what I like to call a traditional Kdrama. It has all the aspects that you will come to expect from kdramas- love, romance, love triangles, piggyback rides, "Cinderella syndrome", and comedy. While in hindsight it is not necessarily the best drama I have watched, because it was one of the first it holds a special place in my heart. I don't want to go into excruciating detail, though I am sure I could talk about BOF for days but I feel it is one of the required introductory dramas, so if you are looking to start START HERE.

On a side note, even if it is not your first drama choice make sure you watch it. There are very few Asian Dramas that are as well known as BOF.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
My Bromance 2: 5 Years Later
5 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
May 6, 2021
9 of 9 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 1.5
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 1.5
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

9 things wrong with these 9 eps. (NOT worth the watch)

Ok I have not written a review in a really long time but I felt like this one really needed a review so that people could understand just how bad it was.

1st off the entire storyline is messed up to begin with I mean who fakes their death for 5 years just so that your loved one can move on. If he had broken up with him and gone to the states for 5 years that would have made sense but the fact that not only did he fake his own death but that everyone around him was in on it just makes it honestly just too far fetch to begin with. That being said I still was waiting to watch this drama and was excited even knowing that it was a ridiculous plot line to see the end story of Golf and Bank.

Ok 2nd this drama was super slow.... the writing was just bad. Fluke Natouch is an amazing actor and he is the only one that manages to pull off his character in the entire series. The other Fluke (Golfis ok) Like there is only so much an Actor can do with a bad script.
3rd the other actors were not very good I'm just gonna leave it at that....a lot of the newer characters were just bad acting.

4th almost all of our original characters are not in the series at. All of Bank and Golf's friends basically only make a cameo in the 1st and 9th episode.

5th going into this I knew that there was some shade being thrown at Fluke Natouch from the director and the producer of this show. I don't have words for that really (other than unprofessional) but I do think it put a bad taste in my mouth as to why our 2 main protagonist are such a small part of the entire series.

6th the way the Golf shows backup and is just miraculously alive (even though all the viewers knew that to be true before going into the series- bc of the 'reunion' eps) the way that they handled him and Bank meeting again for the 1st time was again just part of a bad script it didn't make sense it was poorly done and despite the Flukes best attempts to put emotion into the scene you really couldn't feel much because it wasnt written as well as it should have been. It should have been incredibly emotional for not just Banks character but for all of the viewers and it really missed the mark.

7th the attempt to add in not just one new couple but literally 4 new couples to give some meat to this drama was again poorly done. Nobody cared about any of the side couples, none of their stories were deep enough to make us want to care. If they had focused on 1 side couple that might have been interesting but 4 of them, and I'm not even sure there are 4 of them I honestly stopped paying attention, was just so redundant.

8th the 'rape/coercion' scene and the harassment and the stereotypical drunk sex and all of those scenes combined just again side story unnecessary stuff trying to add stuff in and they weren't needed they were not helpful in the story at all they were weird and creepy. Along those lines there is just a lot of like negative space a lot of slow motion movements a lot of really slow dialog where people were just like on screen looking at eachother. Trying to look emotional for long periods of time.....this is 9 episodes series and each episode was 30 minutes long and I swear 20 minutes of that was people just staring at each other as they slowly said their lines, randomly interspersed with sexual harassment.

And last The 9th problem I had with this drama (and yes there are 9 problems and 9 episodes) is the shade that they try to throw at the end of the drama....the wrap up story line stuff that they posted at the end right before the credits where they give everybody's complete story line and how Golf and Bank lived happily ever after and that kind of BS um it was just .....I don't have words...... Also them claiming that they were the 1st Thailand BL EVER (2014)---just to clarify tthis was originally a weird movie, also poorly done and "Love Sick" was the 1st Thai BL Series....so they can claim being the 1st movie, but definitely not the creators of all Thai BL.....that all other bl's are born from their creation and then the facts that they then are like "Oh Bank and Golf lived happily ever after, " even though we had all these weird scenes where they barely even talk to each other and then we don't even get a real kiss out of them at the end but the other characters are having sexual harassment and straight up sex in some of the scenes. Then on top of that the whole like let's just randomly kill off Arm he dies one month after him and bank break up and it's just it's so weird and so forced that I'm not sure that I can even explain how bad and weird and forced it was.

OK so my rant over I feel like if you are one of the people that really needs to see the completion of this story and you're OK with not watching every episode for the full 30 minutes then you might be able to handle skipping through .

If you are not highly invested in Bank and Golf OR you are not one of those people that can skip through parts of a show OR if you need trigger warnings about sexual harassment or rape then I would not watch this at all. It is not worth it and you are not missing out on anything.

Bank and Golf end up together happily ever after. Honestly I was either falling asleep or disgusted by the story or horribly disappointed in the script for the entire thing. I think this is the lowest rating I have ever given anything out of the hundreds of dramas that I have seen and I purely give it the 1.5 star that it gets because of Fluke Natouch and his ability to handle trying to get through this series despite all the shade and poor script writing and poor character development that happens.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Healer
9 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Feb 13, 2015
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
I don't know how to start this review. I don't give out very many 10's but with Healer its so hard not too. The story is fascinating at first. The characters especially Healer (Ji Chang Wook) is such an intriguing person. Healer Hacker Min Ja (Kim Mi-Kyung) adds to the lovable nature of the show and Healers character. His acting as always is superb. He does a flawless job of going between the meticulous an strong Healer- Jung Hoo and the laughable Bong Sook- which is a false identity he takes on to get closer to our main actress Chae Young Shin (Park Min-Young).

The action scenes are excellent and well thought out. Chang Wook does most of the stunts himself which of course makes it even more impressive. They never try to show any outlandish stunts and everything is reality believable.

The romance is nice because its sweet, there is no love triangle and it makes for a more believable romance story line. That said the romance is definitely there. This is an action romance not just action. So go into it with those expectations. I think they do a really good job at setting that up from the beginning where as in other shows it almost seems tacked on at the end.

The back story that connects all the characters together is well thought out and I was really impressed with how it managed to wrap up. Admittedly I got worried around episode 18 when there were still so many things unanswered.

Over all this drama gets a 10 from me and is strongly recommended especially if you want somthign more than just romance that you can watch with your significant other.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Vampire Prosecutor
4 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Feb 13, 2015
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
Okay I know this one has a lot of positive reviews but I chose it thinking that 12 ep. would be an easy marathon and I love Vampires but after the predictability of ep. 1 I had trouble pulling my self through this drama.
Episodes 1-6 were almost a waste of time. Yes you got back story here and there and as another review put it "its like an onion pulled back layer by layer" but there was so much that wasn't part of the overall story- fluff that just grated on my nerves. Especially since they also try to set up a love story that wasn't beneficial to the plot.
Being a vampire fanatic I also had problems with the mythology and there were scenes and shots that made no sense.
The female leads part was also unnecessary, it was almost like they were going to start up a romance, we even get her back story, but it just flops and seems like it was added in to get female viewers.
All this said ep. 7-12 did get better and episode 11 and 12 were by far the best. I liked the ending which was this dramas only saving grace when I scored it.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Bride of the Century
4 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Feb 4, 2015
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
I liked the concept of this one. I Love when there's characters swap and Yang Jin Sung does a great job at playing both characters. I also like the fantasy level of this show with the spirit of the 1st wife haunting all the others and of course I liked the love story. I liked that she made him less cold and he made her less simple. All that said the key things I did not care for in this were just an overall feeling that it was a little too played out. While Jin Sung did well at portraying the two separate women I don't think the rest of the characters really clicked for me and the whole mystical fantasy part got a little too convoluted. I wish it had been simplified.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Empress Ki
4 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Jan 18, 2015
51 of 51 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers
I read a few of the other reviews before I decided to post and I don't fully agree with them. Yes this is a sageuk (historical k drama) and yes it is long. 51 episodes may seem like a long show to watch but it is well worth it. There are of course artistic liberties taken with the story but the traditional story line is still there and this drama also does a good job with costumes and period accurate details. It keeps you on your toes and its not just a happy go lucky show, there is real drama and real suspense. If you can find the time for the whole drama you will not regret it, the characters good and bad make you love them. The lead female is powerful and impressive while being elegant. Leading men both pull off their characters well and while you will most definitely find your self screaming at the screen during this drama, its ability to frustrate and suprize its audience is one of the keys that kept me watching.

On another note if you are interested in history or in Asian culture this drama is intriguing and can give you new insight without being opressive.

I don't want to add any spoilers so I am going to have to stop here but as a last word this is my favorite sageuk and I recommend it to everyone.


***re-watch value is only low because it is long.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Pinocchio
3 people found this review helpful
by KiRa
Mar 8, 2015
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This was one of the strongest dramas I have watched in a while. The characters were intriguing, it wasn't very suspenseful but at the same time it did not drag out story lines too long which was a nice change. All too often with melodramas the plot lines just seem to take so long to wrap up, and I feel that things wrapped up rather quickly for each twist.

With out spoiling the plot it was nice to have a character with integrity. I actually did not care for PSH character In Ha as much because she seemed to hiccup too easily, even if she wasn't "lying". I liked that while there was obvious romance here it wasn't the overly romantic drama, romance was almost like a supporting character, explaining their roles and characters without being overwhelming.

One of the biggest problems/best things was that I did not hate the antagonist. I actually felt bad when they got in trouble at the end. In fact none of the people who did "wrong" in this show were very "bad" at least not to me. I actually really liked a few of the antagonist like the Chairman.

Overall I liked this drama, it was an easy watch, not something that maybe kept me "really" fascinated but at the same time it was smooth.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?