Random Series

Not as good as "In The Mood For Love" imo, but still a very good one.
I think the story of Bai Ling was amazing, and Zhang ZiYi was just phenomenal. Her entire range from happy to sad was a joy to watch. She and Tony Leung had fantastic chemistry. I LOVED their scenes together. I wish the movie was just about them.

Is this more or less the Japanese version of "Hot Stove League" ?

I don't believe it was condoning cheating.
The series is just not being judgmental. It is showing us what led our characters to make these decisions. We can make our call instead of being told.
I also don't fund the FL particularly a lovable character, but I wouldn't call her bad.
I rather disgree with you about the writer. On contrary, I was surprised that she/he didn't make her more lovable.

After 6 episodes.
This is really a unique Kdrama. Continue to be depressing, but it has some passages of real beauty and poetic writing (it reminds me from time to time of the thout provoking and beautiful writing of Park Hae Young).
I am neverthless enjoying it very much. I like the realistic vibes of it. I like to seea more realistic portrayal of a depressed person.
The main actress is doing a fanatstic job.

My Mister.

After 3 episodes.
The series is a bit depressing, but also engaging. The acting, especially by the FL, is really good.
The series is giving me vibes of .....(I am going to mention a series in the spoiler), especially to what happened towrds the end of E03.

Watched yesterday.
This is a movie of immense beauty!. It belongs to an art gallery.
The theme music is also wonderfull. And Nat Cole singing "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" in Spanish!
Who would have thought that getting noodles can be this sexy? lol
It also shows that you can a make movie with lots of sensuality and sexisness without any explicit scenes, nudity or creepy stuff.

I don't think anything can beat Reply 1988.
It has all types: Brothers, Sisters, Brother-Sister, Old Brother-Kid Sister.
And, they are all so real and key to the series.

It achieves its goal as a tearjerker. It made me cry.
But, it is fairly ordinary other than that.
6/10.

BFI Player has fairly large collection of Japanese movies, but the overhwlming majority are very old/old.
It costs £4.99 a month.

MUBI also has some Japanese movies that are newer, but much less on offer, and it costs around £10 a month I think.

There are a lot of unbelievable decisions made by characters.
While I liked very much what the show was going for and with its set-up, I don't think the writer was successful in creating believable reasons for the actions in a lot of situations.

Any news on the release date?

Fantastic set-up (especially the hierarchy) and great set design, but only decent execution, in most departments, so the show never really fulfill its promise.
I felt the biggest weakness of it is the writing. It was a bit too chaotic and all over the place.
I didn't feel it was paced well. Games were boring, but infused with some brutal violence.
Many might disagree with me, but the violence here is MUCH MUCH worse than Squid Game.
SG violence was overwhelmingly gun shots in a very "business like" manner. Here, it is personal with basic weapons inflecting serious pain.
The actions of characters were often hard to understand as well.
Last episode was a letdown from about the middle with a sequence of events that didn't make sense.
The show also failed to get me emotionally invested (apart from deep hatred towards 6 & 8)
But, let me end on a positive note.
I really loved the presentation of hierarchy, power dynamics, power play, and a whole bunch of other social and economical comments. It also had some good tense moments.
I was mildly entertained by it, but, it will go down as missed opportunity mainly.
6.5/10

I must say in advance that I don't vibe a lot with Cdramas. I dropped many of them, and the two I finished got 5.5, and 6. The biggest issue for me was after very strong start they keep declining.

But, I have decided to give this a chance because I like time loops.
I certainly enjoyed this one, and some episodes were really very good. The main actors had great chemistry as well.
But, I felt it was longer than it needed to be. I think 11 episodes would have been sufficient. Also, the last few episodes were really hard to believe. Some of the actions and interactions between characters were too unbelievable.
The Police, in general, was hit and miss. Sometimes they made perfect sense, but sometimes I was thinking there is no way Police would interact like this with civilians.
Overall, the early episodes were better written and much more believable.
But, despite all my objections, I was entertained, and engaged very much with the story.
I was going to give it 8, but I didn't buy a lot of what they were selling me towards the end.
So, final score 7.5/10

P.S: I would like to have some of that melon, and the Policewoman in blue is cute :)

I didn't rate Squid Game 2, and I will not rate it.
I rate only series that I have finished.
I am STRONGLY against rating something you haven't seen.
I was just voicing my feelings. I will never agree to rating something low without watching it.

But, I do have very strong opinion against multiple seasons, and I wish they fail, because once they become the norm, you will start to have very few new series. Now we have very high number of new series, and people can always find something to watch.
But if multi-seasons system become the norm you will keep seeing the same series with one season after another.

Well, I want it to flop because Netflix is making multiple seasons because people are watching them.
Netflix (and other platforms) doesn't care whether something is good or bad. All what it cares about whether people will watch or not. If Netflix get the message that Kdrama viewers don't like multiple seasons, then it will not make them.
And, I think myself (and PrettyCat Eyes) have already mentioned why we think multiple seasons are bad. You don't have to agree, but those are the reasons.

As to your second point.
If a series has been phenomenal, then its continuation is most likely make it bad or average by the end of those seasons (unless this has already been planned and announced, not artifically extended because of success). You had something great, cherish it and saviour it.

Of course there are always exceptions. Nothing is absolute.
Personally, I have never watched Sweet Home, and I won't watch any of the sequels.
The only one I might consider is "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" because that is just slice of life and episodic in nature. So, there is some room for a sequel. But, even if I end up watching, one extra season is the absolute maximum.
I am well aware that I am in minority. I think people will keep watching. And my frustration and fear is that Korean companies will start adopting this system because it is cheaper. They are already struggling against Netflix and other American platforms.
So, in few years, the Kdrama scene will be very much like American, just with Korean actors. And thus losing the thing that made it unique in the first place.

There is BIG difference between "Squid Game" haters and haters of mindless sequels.
I rated "Squid Game" 9.5/10. If you check my watch list ratings, this is one of my absolute top series. And I consider E6 one of the best TV episodes I have ever seen.
But, I hate these sequels that are completely needless, and they will keep doing them until the series which was once great become a parody of itself.

Well, I won't watch it. That is given.
But, I suppose my point is if there is something introduced (regardless of the field) and you really hate it, then you wish for it to fail.
I seriously think the artifical milking of series is very bad, and therefore I wish for it to fail.
But, I don't believe it is "next level pitiful". But, if you feel that way, then that is your right as well.

P.S: The only good thing is that the writer and director hopefully got paid some good money this time.