I don't know where to start with this review. This drama is a crime drama, but done from the point of view of the people involved in the crime. The theme of this drama is "this can happen in any family". It's a normal family, with all that comes with it, the good and the bad, the warmth and the pressure, happiness and sadness. Watching each episode can be overwhelming and sometimes I'm not too sure if I'm ready to watch the next episode. But once I started watching it a totally get absorbed.

Drama effectively portrays the complicated relationship between family members. A person trying to show their love to one party can be taken as additional and unwelcomed pressure from the other party, who would feel not good enough for attaining what is expected of them. It's never black and white between family members. Its always love and resentment, co-existing. Sometimes they over do-it, a particular character I felt like beating up half the time, while the other half I felt bad for her.

Even so the drama did manage to keep us in suspense. Half way through the drama, the suspects get narrowed down but another mystery gets revealed, and keeps you wondering what the truth is.

No complaint in the acting department. Actually there are some young talent to look out for. Some actors we usually see in secondary roles are put under the spot light which was nice.

As for the music, I loved the ending theme song, it was upbeat soundtrack added to the last scene of each episode, encouraging you to watch more.

I didn't start watchign this drama for a particular actor so what kept me going and enjoying this is the story, executiong and talent. It has a nice balance in many themes like family, love, friendship, mystery, crime.

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I'm sure my view of this drama will not be a popular one, but I thought I might still share ;)

You're all surrounded had ingredients to make it a entertaining and memorable kdrama. It was marketed as a comedy, had the right actors casted in the right place, and most characters were endearing and fun. However we start the story with a tragedy, which away from the comedy and it takes much of the drama time to get solved. I didn't like that at first, but accepted it as long as we get an interesting mystery and enjoy the character growth and romances. There was a lot of potential in the beginning. A lot of story threads were opened up in the beginning but left hanging and did not get much of a conclusion, so the conclusion we got was not satisfying. Many characters were set aside while the hero was put in the center, taking in one tragic revelation after another. Also a lot of things happening in the police station you just have to suspend your disbelief. Also, in the end, I'm just not convinced that any of the rookies learned anything, and that they are anywhere NEAR ready to take on the job.

The acting for most of the cast was superd. It was stunning at best (Cha Seung-Won) and serviceable at worst (Ahn Jae-Hyeon) with the exception of 1 actor (Jeong Dong-Hwan) who really was taking the drama down. He practically has 2 face expression, and both are too over the top to suit any of his scenes. One actress I don't remember seeing much before is Seo Yi-Sook, and I think her character was the most interesting, and her acting elevated it. My complaint here is just that we see so much potential for growth in the 1st half of the drama, but most characters were pushed to the background, and their character and relationship wasn't explored further. Mainly Seo Pan-Seok and Kim Sa-Kyung, and even Park Tae-Il's backstory was given like 10 minutes of revelations and thats it. All Eo Soo-Sun did on the second half is be a support to Eun Dae Gu, and that couldn't be helped since they put him from one horrible situation to another. Their romance was growing at a slow but sweet pace and I liked that, but one seen forced it to accelarate. I got nothing against how it went after but that scene itself was too forced in my opinion.

The final reveal of the mystery was well thought out in my opinion, even if most thought to be a little too far fetched, I don't because I know humans do worst for their greed. but by then all were left with is the boring annoying 2 dimensional villains.

Generally the music wasn't too outstanding, except for that one sweet guitar soundtrack, usually on when scenes involve Seo Pan-Seok and Cho Young Chul that I really loved. It added bittersweetness to the scene and made it beautiful.

All in all, I was disappointed in the beginning for the lack of comedy and overdose tragedy, but started liking the story and the growing potential set in the first half. Like most kdramas, the second half lost track of most story threads, and didn't know how to handle it. But still, I don't regret watching it, I enjoyed the acting and the characters were very likeable.

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While watching this movie, I got so absorbed in it I was unaware of my surroundings. Just when I thought I lost my interest in revenge stories, this movie wakes it up again. It also explore how society deals with its kids, specially at that difficult age.

The story is simple. A teacher's daughter gets killed, and the culprit are her students. She teaches them a vicious lesson, one they might never get up from, and they will certainly not forget.

Ignorance is when you think you know it all. Thats why teenagers tend to be ignorant and look down on adult. I liked that she managed to show them who's boss. But in doing so, you feel that she lost her humanity. She didn't teach them out of care, she hates them but just doesn't want that crime to be forgotten. The children themselves, their thirst for attention blinds them from the crimes they do. They have no conscience at all. To be look up to as cool, they take it on the weaker, like cowards. It reminds me of an essay I read some time before where it says that children are more dangerous than adult, because they have no morality. They can do the worst of crimes and not realize its atrocity. Basically when they do those kind of crimes, they should be punished like adult and face the consequences.

The acting from Matsu Takako was top notch. I specially liked Kaoru Fujiwara;s acting her. The cast is generally great. Okada Masaki's character was plain annoying, because he was meant to be lol.

I loved LOVED the direction here. The use of flashbacks, the skip from one flashback to another (as if watching an old family video) during conversations and monologues, the lighting and effects, the colours of them moving, was used effectively and perfectly. I think its what made the movie stand out and what absorbed me in that movie. The music used is no exception, setting the mood perfectly.

As a psychological thriller, it carries the task perfectly without being a burden to watch. You're never thinking "I just want to know the ending of it". It might not be to everyone's taste, but Its definitely worth the watch ;)

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This drama is about Shinigami # 413 trying to accomplish his role of informin people of their pending death and bring them to heaven. However there's a few complications. The shinigami world is similar to that of a corporation. Its brutal and you're basically the slave of your manager, shinigami # 45, who is also a slave of the higher ups. Like any big corporation, you're expected to do your job devoid of any emotion. The more you get emotional, not accomplishing your task By-The-book, the more you will be in trouble.
Whats more, there is the devil, or Akuma, who's job is the exact opposite. If akuma gets in the way of you accomplishing your job, you will be terminated.

I like that they set rules which they follow more or less, giving the story a logic of its own. I also like the showdown between Shinigami and Akuma, because I don't necessarily see them as good vs evil, but 2 people who believe in 2 very different things, and do their jobs according to their beliefs.

I wouldn't say that the acting surprised me here, but they knew where to cast each actor to best represent the character. I like the comedy and while the episodes were mostly predictable, we did get surprises here and there.

Although it isn't a high budget dorama (didn't look like it) I still like the decorations used, and the costumes would bring out the characters more as well.

Overall a constant enjoyable watch, I especially liked the last episode, where I wasn't sure how our shinigami would solve the issue and at what cost. I think it was a satisfying ending.

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This movie didn't get me into an emotional state right away like say Odagiri's Tokyo Tower, or the fuzzy feeling of another of Odagiri movie Adrift in Tokyo (yup big time fan of the guy :P). However it did stay in my mind for a few days, so I can figure out how I felt about it and how I can understand the ending.

Sway is about 2 very different brothers who never came into terms with how they feel about each other. Even though the events of the show are very intense and we can even say extreme, but this type of feeling between siblings can exist in any type of family (talking from personal experience here :P). The older one (Minoru) who carry the burden to stay in his hometown and not let his father down. He's the peace maker of the family. The younger brother (Takeru) was the one that wanted to get out of his family's control and change his fate. I think he just didn't want to end up like his brother, and wanted an individualistic, materialistic lifestyle (offered by today's capitalism). In the middle was the hometown girl. From what I gather, she was a girl that lived comfortably until she was laid off. She was afraid of change so she had refused to leave town for the big city. When she lost her job, her sole living family moved on in life, she found herself alone.

Here where it all comes into play. Minoru begrudges his existence, thinks that lil bro is only in it for himself and nothing more. He has low self esteem to the point of never confessing to the woman he loves. Takeru hates everything his hometown represents, which makes him disdain what his older brother represents. He just couldn't get over the fact that he ex might end up with his older brother, so he ended up pursuing her without any intend for a long term relationship. He feels hollow and never satisfied with anything. She, at this point in her life, had similar fears to Takeru. She just wants out, and doesn't want to become another Minoru, and she looked at Takeru as her ticket out. I found all 3 were profound characters, very selfish and very human.

An accident happen that changes their fates forever and makes them face all their decisions they made up to now and what went wrong with them. I think each one of us has a bit of Minoru, or a bit of Takeru, or even a bit of both.

I don't need to mention about the acting here, we have an all talented cast carefully casted. Some goes for the directing with all its subtlety. I think whats amazing about this movie is that we begin to appreciated, at least in my case, not while watching it or as soon as its done, but after a long while, when you realize that its still there in the back of your mind.

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Story wise this dorama doesn't reinvent anything. As a procedural it isn't done well. It tries to surprise us as times but doesn't work all the time. However, since it Never takes itself seriously, all this doesn't bother you and you feel its all done on purpose. Some episodes, specially early on, weren't that great, while others were pretty thrilling.

The main premise was our father-&-son duo who haven't been in contact for a while. The son does have some parents issue but doesn't let it control his life and, when he gets the chance, expresses himself clearly. His personality is extremely cute. You just believe in his shyness & awkwardness. The dad might appear as a bully, but you can see his affection for his son. You can feel some hidden pain that he avoids with his silliness. He's a weird mixture of pettiness and cool, making his character most fun.

The other characters aren't too important but add a nice touch to the mixture. Some of the episodes concerning their characters were well made. The girl in the group was alright. She didn't bother me throughout (except her acting stupidly in that 1 episode). The crush the dorama was hinting on the part of Sahara-kun was cute too. It just welcome spice to the mixture. The villain of the story is 1 dimensional and just here to make the main characters' life harder. He's still creepy enough to keep you on your toes.

I liked the music and the action scenes here as well, though not a fan of our leads' signature move, they make it work ;)

Overall entertaining, easy to watch on stressful days, fun to watch on depressing days.

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This movie is all about the relationship between the son and his mom who's the sunshine in his life. The story is pretty simple, but executed so sweetly. It kind of emmerses you in that tale. Nothing is glamorized and all felt like watching people go about their everyday life and what they make of their decisions.

Acting wise watching Odagiri joe and Kiki Kirin was both heartwarming and painful at time. I first gotta say I find Odagiri so good looking here!! XD. Kiki Kirin is so amazing she's really the star here, with her lovely daughter (playing her younger self). I remember first watching her in Villain where she totally broke my heart and stle the whole movie for me so she already won me over. But here, specially once she comes to live in tokyo, you just feel all the joy she brings with her. And that source of her joy is her son. As for him, you love him for wanting her in his life so much. You love him for never feeling that he finds her a burden. I particularly love the scene in the poster, it speaks so much of their relationship! The dad character might've been a lousy husband, but you can't really hate him lol. As for the girlfriend, I just didn't feel it. I specially did not feel the honesty she's supposed to exhibit. But her character doesn't matter so who cares :P

This movie is pretty long and slow-paced. The movie is about 20 min over the 2 hours but though I didn't find it short but I felt satisfied with the ending. I felt that I didn't need more or less. Not for everyone, but if you're an Odagiri Joe fan, if you like heartwarming stories, slow paced slice of life, I think chances re you'll like it.

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That drama has nothing much original, and does a lot of things wrong, but does 2 things SO RIGHT it makes up for everything else.

First, our 2 main leads stay in line character throughout the drama. Their character grow, but in a more subtle way which is what I love most about them. Their coming back together is convincing because we get see little by little what made them separate in the first place, and we see how each one of them resolve the issues they had, and how it brings them back, only to be there for each other, and for no other reason. It feels organic and you're with them all the way, and they stay true to their character that you have come to love. In the end, you feel that it's a healthy relationship where both are equal and working together to make it work this time

Second, the comedy stays throughout the drama, up until the last episode. Each episode has a few funny scenes involving our male lead who can be adorably petty. He might be petty, but it was never done in a dramatic or serious way, but mostly in a comedic way. It's actually amazing for a korean drama since most rom-com turn melo half way through which annoys me in a way that I'm like "I didn't sign up for this". So basically this drama gives you what it promises in that sense.

If you are looking to watch a drama for those 2 reasons, then I'd recommend it. Its totally for you!

IF you are looking for a story about how a man turned millionaire overnight, or about details on smart business decisions, if you are looking for interesting 2nd leads that don't turn cliché and show growth and dignity, if you are looking for camaraderie or even bromance, well you won't be finding any of those things here. The bromance was sorta a let down but that wasn't the focus of the story ;)

Overall I really enjoyed the drama for the 2 reasons mentioned above even when everything else went crazy at one point (those are what FFW button is made for :P).

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I gotta say this one didn't do as great as I'd hope.

Story
We started with an interesting mystery but I just did not enjoy how it was handled. The first few episode never gave me the feeling that our lead girl was smart, but just that our villains at the beginning were too easy to take out. Later episodes had interesting villains, and thats when I felt that Mizuno wasn't up for it and was way in over her head, but it still kept me interested. The drama would've been better if they had ended it at episode 9, but they used what I'd call a cheap cliffhanger at the end of the episode, while many revelations in the last episode did not sit well with me. Its not because of how the story went, but more how it was handled and the reasoning behind it. Lets just say I wasn't happy with it.

Acting
Now that is why I watched this drama and why I was mad the drama wasn't well executed. Ueno Juri did great in that role. From the first moment she's onscreen she convinces she's to get people (though her actions aren't convincing :P). I don't think you can mix her with any other character she played before, she was a totally different person. Odagiri Joe on the other hand, Although I really liked, I felt he was restrained in that role. I guess I'm just used to him doing the craziest or weirdest role and this was waaaayy too tame for him. Iwaki Koichi and Kunimura Jun were excellent in their role. Nakamura Aoi was cute as always and fit the role perfectly. Even the cartoonish villains from the beginning were well acted just not added any depth. On that department I don't have any complaint.

Music & Art
I liked the music throughout the drama, the ending song and I love the alice in wonderland drawings they used but I actually never felt any connection with Alice's story and this drama. It just didn't add anything to the drama only a nice picture to look at, at the beginning of every episode.

Finally I don't give much attention to rewatch value since I rarely rewatch stuff. Also mystery dramas kind off lose most of their value after the first watch since you already know the end of it.

Overall I don't regret watching it because I enjoy the acting, but I just didn't like how the story when and how many scenes were executed. It did not feel genuine or unique.

Hope you enjoy the review & don't find it too harsh :P Its just how I felt about it ;)

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Before writing anything I have to clear something up. I have a bias towards Akumu-chan. It won me over when I watched the dorama and the same elements are what brought me back here, and didn't let me down.

The special concept itself was a great idea, all about discovering oneself and having a dream, specially the age we're dealing with. I find the grade schooler story having much more effect on me, and much deeper meaning. I gotta say wasn't too crazy about the teenage sob story, and didn't like the whole "all is forgiven" attitude (that I've seen in so many j-doramas). There was also a certain surprise wasn't much of a surprise, and I didn't like how it came to be revealed.

What I love the most is the relationship between Ayami & Yuiko, Ayami's evil tendencies, the school nurse brings a welcomed comedy and the whole dream interpretation. I love Keike's interpretation of Ayami's character, specially now that her character doesn't hide her feelings. I like the confidence she exude as a teacher as well. I also like the actrice playing the nurse although I hated her in her previous dorama (her acting was actually really good but I just hated the character she played :P) but she shows a whole different personality that wou can never mistake the 2 ;)

Overall an enjoyable watch, so I sure can't wait for the movie!!

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It wasn't easy to rate because I feel this dorama has some constantly great things going for it going hand in hand with really bad ones

Story
The premise is nothing new. We've seen it just recently in a couple of korean dramas, and the concept was used countless times. However, this dorama approaches it in a totally different, obscure manner which I found refreshing. At the introduction, we got a detective who deals with his job in a pragmatic way because if he's not out catching criminals, he wouldn't be doing much else. Then he got this power, and the more we watch him, the more we see how its been affecting him and his emotional state. Some episodes were better than others, some episodes had more interesting "victims" than others. Overall the dorama didn't give me this attachment that I MUST watch the next episode as soon as its available, but kept me interested in the development of the main character. I gotta say it was more of a one man show, all the other characters didn't add much, and are just here to accompany our hero in his journey.

Acting
Oguri Shun is the star here, everything about his character development, his actions, the acting were near perfect. He might not be in my top 10 fave japanese actors (I don't have one yet lol) but he gave it his all here and you FEEL it. The rest of the actors weren't really given much, and honestly didn't do much with what they're given. Even the 2 geeks, though their presence was entertaining.

Music
I found the soundtrack a little too dramatic for my taste, but it fit the overall mood of the show.

Directing
I gotta say thats my favourite part of this dorama. That was a constant here. I loved the lighting and the dark colours used throughout the dorama. I love the mood it created. It added so much to the story, and though I didn't jump in to watch each episode, once I started 1, it engulfed me throughout the episode.

Finally, I found the ending fits perfectly with where the character was going, the story and its mood.

PS I don't put much on rewatch value, specially detective shows so ignore that :P

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