Definitely skip this one!

This drama is not perfect by any means. The pacing is bad, one notices points where the story was edited in a heavy handed way. Some of the acting was a bit exaggerated at times and a few of the characters were underdeveloped. But when its dialogue finally connects, it is well delivered and so sentimental it makes one forget all of its shortcomings. This drama’s shortcomings I think have a lot to do with budget issues maybe but I can’t be sure. I do notice these same weaknesses with many Taiwanese dramas, especially in the boys love genre.

But at the heart of this drama was simply a coming of age story. It spoke of the pivotal moments that inevitably occur in one’s life that shape who we become, especially when we are young. The vibrant colors and airy capricious environments hint at the naivety of youth.

In the end it’s a beautiful told story about a man who has been through so much disappointment he has lost faith in love and the comically younger and immature boy tenacious enough to teach him to trust again. And a who is constantly buffeting by some of the saddest circumstances. He just cannot catch a break but despite this he tries so hard to make the best of the abysmal cards he was dealt. It took a free spirit to show him that there were things worth living for other than excelling merely for the sake of escaping his struggles.

The drama ends rather sadly but that is not a bad thing per say. We all want to see an ideal happy ending even if only to escape from our own lives sometimes. But it simply isn’t realistic and I tend to find that depressingly refreshing. Sometimes bad things happen, sometimes the things we want don’t always work out the way we planned and sometimes love ends for one reason or another, but it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t worth it.

That’s truly the lesson to take from this. In the end I’ve seen so much potential from the HIStory series and it always falls flat at some vital point especially at the end and I’m not entirely sure why. It’s like the writing takes a hiatus or something. Overall if you watch this one though disappointed you can enjoy it. You will simply have to release expectations. However I personally recommend skipping the HIStory franchise all together, good riddance it isn’t coming back. Their ideas need more time to bake.

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Endearing story about loss, grief and letting go.

Very lovely story and I enjoyed the actors immensely. The cinematography was lovely and the sound of the cicadas made me giggle. They reminded me a lot of the ones played in Japanese dramas. The faces the protagonists made when playing music was so passionate I could feel it. Ultimately it reminded me of how situations we may not address in the present tend to be fated to come back again in the future. How one brother ignored his love and it ended in the suicide of the object of his affection only to see his younger brother weighed down by that very same mistake was incredibly fascinating to me. The way they were brought together through the music of someone else’s love was so heartwarming. This is true for the second couple as well. Love and forgiveness brought them together it showed compassion and grace. However the series does suffer from a few pitfalls. It was too short and could have used at least another two or three episodes. I would have loved to see the situation with the sister resolved, she came off as a good person caught in between several destinies but I suppose life is like that sometimes.

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Quite sweet and innocent drama

As usual I don't understand the low ratings of the acrimony associated with this drama. It was absolutely lovely with one of the best intros that i have seen in a dram in a very long time. The cast was positively perfect, and the couples were cute, sometimes to a saccharine degree. I enjoyed every moment of it. I see that a lot of people were not happy with the homophobia in the episode but i find that to be such an unrealistic position. In life not everyone is going to accept an unconventional relationship, these are simply the facts of life. To see that these problems were eventually sorted helps the drama along a lot. I would have been disappointed if there was no conflict or disagreement throughout. I'm also very happy it avoided the dreaded misunderstanding that usually occurs at the tail end of a series, those always irk me to no end. All in all this drama is going on my list as a rewatch and i hope in the future Dynamite and Fire get their own series, even though i cannot fathom what it would be about.

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Beautiful Drama full of substance and tears.

Wow I’m blown away, I had not cried that much since I watched, Eternal Yesterday. It shows that suicide truly has no winners and everything we do comes back eventually. I’ve always believed in reincarnation so this drama resonates in a deeper way for me. On one hand I say just let people be happy no matter who they choose to be with while on the other I realize it was the late eighties so a different time. This drama was about an impossible situation that destiny sorted out in the end. It’s tough to rewatch because of how emotionally charged it is but I certainly will in the future.

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