This is perhaps one of the most frustrating dramas of 2018 where the only saving grace was the male lead, Han Zhang as Tong Zhuo Yao. Although the drama started on a great pace and the plot was interesting, everything went downhill when the writer(s) decided to use and overuse every single cliché about separation for someone else sake. Although the chemistry between the leading couple was good, there was not a moment that the viewer could baste in the beauty of their romance for more than a few minutes before another separation happened after promising and assuring each other that they will never leave again, making the drama more torturing than entertaining. The overall acting was very good, the actors did what they could with their given characters but that didn’t save the drama which kept getting gloomier by the minute. Also, as if one pathetic infatuated actor was not enough, there were three! One can’t help to feel sorry for these actors that had to stick with such an awfully written storyline.

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Crazy Love is an engrossing romantic comedy with a mix of some dark humor, melodrama, mystery, plenty of wounded souls, and great slow burned character development. For the leading couple, it is an enemy to lover’s trope that leads to a strong and supporting relationship. The actors did a great job bringing their characters and their realistic emotional and romantic entanglements to life. The leading couple has an extraordinary chemistry and it is impressive to see them together, not only when they have their beautiful and suave romantic interactions but their best is seeing in episode 2 where the female lead (Krystal Jung as Lee Shin A) reaches her “I’m going all out crazy” stage; it’s great! And, of course, Kim Jae Wook (as Noh Go Jin) was exceptional as well! A truly entertaining drama, enjoy it!

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The Reincarnated Lovers is a very good historical miniseries. This drama is about Prince Xiao Xuan Yi (played by Guan Yue) and his lover Tang Wan Yu/Wan Wan (played by Guo Jia Yu), the daughter of Minister Tang that was born afflicted with heterochromia causing her eyes to turn blue. People with this condition were considered cursed and it was believed that they will bring disaster upon others. The synopsis written on MDL is wrong. Minister Tang is charged with treason and Xiao Xuan Yi is in charge of carrying out the death sentence upon the Tang family on his wedding day to Tang Wan Yu. Filled with pain and hatred against her husband, Wan Wan kills him and kills herself ensuing a story of reincarnation for both. The second thing that is wrong on the synopsis is that after their reincarnation, not rebirth, Wan Wan tries her best to reverse the tragic events of their first life and Xiao Xuan Yi, who still loves her, continues trying to protect her. There is no sadistic love at all in their relationship! By destiny and the male lead’s persistence, they get entangled again, work together to find the truth of all calamities, and find their happy ending. The miniseries is fast paced but it is well done. The cast did a good job bringing their characters to life, costumes are beautifully done, it has good cinematography, and the leading couple has good chemistry. If there is something that disappoints a little bit is that in many of the leading’s couple intimate scenes, the kissing was not intense but there are many tender moments between then and one can feel their love for each other. The drama is entertaining, enjoy it!

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This is such a delightful drama to watch! This is an office romantic comedy that is really fun to watch. The actors did a really good job bringing these characters to life and there is great chemistry among the characters. The leading male, Bruce Hung as Yang Zi Hao, really held the show together. His character is insightful and steadfast in loving her. Although the female lead is not the greatest choice for this character because sometimes she couldn’t convey her emotional state with the right expressions, especially on the romantic scenes, she did pretty well otherwise. The leading male more than compensated, especially in their interactions and romantic scenes. The drama has a good supporting cast and it’s enjoyable to watch. The drama has a very good OST, and also the use of playful onomatopoeia sound effects and the dancing choreography incorporation were a great idea! *Watch pass the end of last episode, until the very end! Enjoy it!

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This is an excellent fantasy police procedural drama with a good romance story between the lead couple. The drama offers suspense, action, romance, a great presentation of the two temporal dimensions without going back and forth that allows the viewer to understand the characters and their struggles, and great character development, especially for the male lead. The cast is fantastic and they did a phenomenal job bringing their characters to life. The leading couple has very good chemistry and their romance is realistically portrayed throughout the drama. This drama is full of raw emotions among the characters but it is greatly shown and uncannily depicted by the antagonists, especially Yoon Pil Woo, deftly enacted by Shin Jae Ha. Enjoy it!
This is an excellent fantasy police procedural drama with a good romance story between the lead couple. The drama offers suspense, action, romance, a great presentation of the two temporal dimensions without going back and forth that allows the viewer to understand the characters and their struggles, and great character development, especially for the male lead. The cast is fantastic and they did a phenomenal job bringing their characters to life. The leading couple has very good chemistry and their romance is realistically portrayed throughout the drama. This drama is full of raw emotions among the characters but it is greatly shown and uncannily depicted by the antagonists, especially Yoon Pil Woo, deftly enacted by Shin Jae Ha. Enjoy it!
REWATCH 0N 7/17/2023: Still a great watch! Acting is top notch! The drama incites all sorts of raw emotions; the antagonists are REALLY horrible beings and the protagonists are not without fault; but justice prevailed and lessons are learned. Enjoy it!

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This is a great “dramedy” period drama! The romance is cute and, although the romantic scenes could’ve been better, the lead couple had very good chemistry and their relationship evolved naturally. The story is about Goo Hae Ryung’s development as a historian, palace politics, secrets, and great character development all over. The cast did a great job bringing their characters to life and the supporting cast was equally important throughout the drama. This drama offers some action, cute and believable romance, tragedy, and great comedic moments that were strategically place throughout the plot balancing up the heaviness of palace antics and the main characters’ stories. It is really a good drama to watch. Enjoy it!

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This drama is a great romance with comedic moments. There is great character development among the leading and supporting cast. Although the drama is set within the background of fangirling to establish the leading female’s issues, the romance takes center stage. The main leads have great chemistry and their romance starts while they become entangled in a pretend relationship. The relationship develops while working and interacting together and shows great character development as the leads come to understand each other and to truly become a real couple. Although there is some conflict, the leading couple is not shaken and they remain steadfast in pursuing and maintaining their love. This drama is well done and the cast did a great job bringing their characters to life. Enjoy it!

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This is a nice drama. If the viewer is looking for a drama with action and strategy, this one will be satisfying, but the romance was marred with manipulation and the leading lady would constantly fall victim of her own “goodness” and remained separated from the leading man in order to “save” him. This dynamic weaken the romantic storyline that could’ve been nice only if their love hiatus didn’t last all the way to the end of the last episode to give the viewer a nice but insipid ending. The rest of the story is the usual palace antics and some really good supporting actors; worth mentioning is Wayne Lai as the dynamic chameleon personality Lang Kun and his beloved, Cao Xi Wen as Empress Zheng Shu Jun.

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This is a cute drama that could’ve been great if not for making the female lead incredibly smart sometimes, terribly annoying other times, and staggeringly ingenuous for the most part. Rain Lu, as Shi Hua Hua can do cute and innocent very well, but her romantic scenes were not the best. Luo Zheng, as Zhou Zhi Fei, did very well delivering his role, especially when his traumas brought anguish and characters changes to a very smart and seemingly collected CEO of a major corporation. Although there are a few antagonistic characters in the drama, especially related to corporation takeover attempts, the skeleton in the closet was not really Zhou Zhi Fei’s blood trauma but his brother, Zhou Zhi Ran (poorly played by Ye Hao Ran) which turned out to be an evil character with supposedly good intentions that suffered from psychopathic behavior that is difficult to justify. Overall, a nice romantic and lighthearted drama about a mismatched couple finding love was ruined by writers trying too hard to create a mysterious and evil plot line that didn’t fit the overall drama’s tone and atmosphere.

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This drama is for mature audiences with knowledge of how manga risqué writing works. Many manga works are full of extreme characters and situations that, when adapted to live drama, can leave a bad taste to some viewers. This drama is one of those. If the drama would have been done without the caricature like theme, it would have been much better. Taking aside the scenes that give the impression that the Hiroto is playing around with Risa, it is basically a common theme drama where rich older guy (with family trauma) falls in love with a childish shy girl that lacks common sense. While together, there are the common antagonists that want to set them apart, too many scenes where the Risa get into absurd situations to be saved by Hiroto coming to her rescue, and finally, a happy ending. Where then did this drama/manga go wrong? The writer wanted to maintain the audience doubting the Hiroto’s true feelings and good intentions for Risa so, their romantic encounters had been interpreted as lasciviousness and taking advantage of a naïve girl, who was not entirely naïve if you take into consideration her inner thoughts. Risa’s naivety was more lack of self confidence and ignorance about loving relationships with the opposite sex. Been naïve on this drama is equated to been stupid, which one is not synonym of the other. Having said all of these, this drama is about Hiroto been deeply attracted to shy Risa and falling in love for the first time. Risa takes an instant likeness to Hiroto and, through caring and seductive persuasion, falls madly in love with Hiroto who awakens the art of sensuality on Risa. Regardless of how the viewer sees their interactions, Hiroto and Risa truly love each other and they get to show that at the end of the drama. Knowing from the beginning that he truly loved her would have made this drama much more delightful and likely to have good rewatch value. Enjoy it!

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The drama “The Charming Step Mom (2019)” is a romantic comedy with a lot of action, heartwarming moments, good chemistry, but no real romantic scenes. It seems to be a family drama where the kids have the role of playing tricks on their dad’s girlfriend, leading couple with hidden secrets, action stemming from the lead male’s profession as a bodyguard, and some devious character bringing up trouble. The leading couple did a good job establishing their relationship and the kids did very well, too. There’s some over the top comedic acting with some really funny moments. This is a cute drama to watch while waiting for a great one to come up. Enjoy it!

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DO NOT BELIEVE THE VIEWERS THAT CONFUSE FEELINGS OF FINDING A YOUNG GIRL CUTE, WITTY, AND SWEET GIRL WHEN SHE WAS 12 TO FEEL A SMALL TUG IN HIS HEART WHEN HE MEETS HER AGAIN WHEN SHE’S SEVENTEEN, AND TO FALL IN LOVE WHEN SHE WENT TO COLLEGE AS AN ADULT. The male lead never crossed the lines of impropriety, even when they were dating; he was lovely and respectful towards her. Hidden Love is a great, delightful, and lighthearted drama that will make you smile tenderly at the leading male and female once they become a couple. Chen Zhe Yuan (as Duan Jia Xu) and Zhao Lu Si (as Sang Zhi) have a refreshing, charming, and beautiful engaging relationship that dazzles the screen every time they look at each other. This drama has a great main and supporting cast that delivered a well crafted story of two individuals that, in spite of their age difference, managed to bring about a healthy and beautiful love story. Enjoy it!

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This is a good drama that missed the opportunity to be great. The plot brings about serious issues of school bullying, administration corruption, elite class privileges and advancement brought up through money, social outcast issues, revenge, and a nice romantic story. Although the story is well written, the actors did a great job delivering their characters, and the leading couple has good chemistry, the romance lost luster in the last episodes and the resolutions were rushed. Also, even though the story has a good ending, the drama lost momentum and the ending was cute but weak.

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This is a nice drama that had the potential to be great but the usual lakorn clichés made it unbearable at moments. The leading couple had great acting moments but their chemistry on the romantic scenes lacked chemistry and their love story was incongruent. Although Moei was always in love with Tien and did everything possible to make him fall in love with her, once she succeeds, she becomes insecure and basically forces him to leave her to, later on, blame him for disappearing from her life. After their love for each other is ratified, the story becomes draggy and the male lead became a beggar for love. The last three episodes were full of unnecessary clichés. The story ends well but it lost momentum towards the end.

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Warm Time With You is a really cute miniseries that, if it would’ve been longer, it would have made a really good drama. The leading actors did great delivering their characters in such a short amount of time and they had very good chemistry. So did the supporting actors. The plot could’ve used longer episodes in order to flesh out the characters, close loopholes in the storyline, and allow the supporting actors more time to get into their characters, which most of them still did a great job. If the viewer is looking for something short, cute, fun, and entertaining, this is the drama to watch. Enjoy it!
Side note: The translation is terrible, but one can figure out what is been said by following the characters’ body language and the plot. Still, there is “something lost in translation”!

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