In all seriousness, this is the best movie I've ever seen

I am so lucky. It was a total coincidence I found this movie. I was on the plane trying to find Men In Black, but when I couldn't find it I went through all the movies A-Z and this movie was the first to show up. When I read the description and saw the trailer I immediately knew I had to watch this movie.

The story is amazing. So many new things happened all the time. Even though I could predict certain parts that would happen, most of the movie felt completely like a rollercoaster and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I am serious, this story was so beautiful to me, and it made me cry both tears of joy and sadness watching it. Without spoiling too much, I seriously loved the dark tones in the movie. It all made me so invested in Mirai's story as a viewer. The acting was great; all the actors did so well, especially Mochizuki Ayumu! The music also always fitted the mood. When I finished the movie I was crying hard (which was embarrassing because I was on a plane, but worth it). I want to rewatch it, but it's impossible to find it online. If you ever find it, watch it!

10/10 would recommend it if you love these types of dark-ish dramas that still have a good ending.

Read More

Despite all the dark, the light really shone through

Not a lot of dramas hook me the way this show did. As a total coincidence, I had a sick day the day this was released and I just thought "oh why not". Typically, I am a watcher of happy not-so-depressing shows so I didn't have high expectations, but this was a genuinely amazing show.

I'll start on a brighter note. The two main characters are extremely lovely. The comedic moments that are sprinkled into this dark-ass show made it so enjoyable. The fact that this show made me laugh and cry and scream… everything was executed so perfectly! Even the music, oh my god, it was insane! I sat (naively) with my Shazam open at the end of every episode, hoping something would pop up (which I then realized embarrassingly late that the OST hadn't been released yet).

Despite riding the Korean Wave for quite a few years now, I have always been very oblivious to how the military system works — the only thing I knew was all men get drafted for about two years. This show portrayed all the sad truths and dark stories that those two years could offer. A primitive society fueled by dominance and fear. Of course, the show is a work of fiction, but it leaves the viewer with a weird feeling in their gut that it was probably rooted in some truths.

This show is definitely for a more mature audience as it involves quite dark topics like abuse and death. It also has *a lot* of swearing. But it is amazing. I loved every second of it. 10/10. Go watch it now.

Read More

People are way too pessimistic compared to how lighthearted this show was

I LOVED this show. In all honestly, I tried to stay away from the School series as I thought it would be too repetitive with high school romance storylines. The main reason I saw this was that I’m a fan of Kim Yohan (also the surprise replacement with Choo Young Woo was pleasant for me since I’d seen him in You Make Me Dance). So keep in mind I’ve only seen this School installment when I say that this drama was extremely good. It even made me want to see the previous School dramas.

The plot in this show was great in my opinion. Sure, they might’ve used some overused tropes, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. One of my absolute favorite things is that the SML (Seo-young) had no interest in ML (Ki-joon), which is very rare in high school romances. I also liked some of the more “non-high school” topics like the lawsuit. But even the very typical “high school first love” and the “two best friends from the past who hate each other now” traits I enjoyed.

Despite the popular opinion, I loved the acting. It’s such a bummer that people are criticizing Jo Yi Hyun’s acting when she was the one I feel performed the best. She perfectly pulled off the “bubbly” main character trope without being annoying, something a lot of female leads fail to do. Kim Yohan’s acting was also extraordinary compared to his previous drama, it’s incredible how much he improved! Despite the limited filmography of our young leads, they all performed wonderfully.

The music was very decent, possibly a tad repetitive for a bit, but nothing that made the show worse for me. None of the songs were so memorable that I listen to them outside the show though.

Overall, I loved this show. I tend to judge shows on how entertained they kept me, and I was very rarely bored with this show. If you like high school romances, I would argue that this is one of the best. I probably wouldn’t rewatch it, but I doubt I’ll ever forget it.

Read More

This might be my favorite K-drama ever

This might be an unpopular opinion, but this is truly one of the best romance shows out there. To be fair, it was also the first "real" K-drama I had ever seen ("real" meaning the whole 16 episodes of 1 or so hours). However, as of writing this review, I have seen quite a few romance dramas and I still believe that this is my favorite one. I saw a lot of reviews saying that they didn't like the show, which is a bummer. I do understand why people thought it was quite silly, but all the stupid jokes just added more charm to it, in my opinion.

I enjoyed that there was more than just Seo-yeon's storyline. Before watching this I had only ever watched shorter dramas, so I feared it would be too much for me to handle. Luckily it wasn't, and I fell for each character's storyline. Everyone had great character depth and I got so invested in all of their stories. Watching as all the puzzle pieces fell together, felt so amazing. I have to admit that I probably fell more for the side characters' stories rather than the main couple but I enjoy the way things turned out. Watching each episode just had me wanting more.

A short note, I would recommend trying to watch the episodes on a platform that still has the original music from when it aired on TV. I'm not sure about other platforms, but I know Viki exchanged most music with copyright-free versions, which made it feel different in a worse way. But the original music was often hilarious and fit perfectly to the scenes (like when Seo-yeon was singing "All by Myself" while being sad in the bar).

I just loved everything about this show honestly. It just made me feel so cozy. I'm not even kidding, some of my best memories come from sitting at 3 AM and watching this on my laptop in my bed. Unless you hate silly comedies, I would recommend this show to anyone. It was so lovely and it made me so happy.

Read More

A Love So Incredibly Frustrating

For a teen rom-com, the romance was dead. Not to mention, incredibly unhealthy and bordering on toxic for every single pairing. Both Heon and Dae-sung were way too possessive over Sol-i. ESPECIALLY Heon. I do not understand how his love for Sol-i was supposed to be perceived as pure. He toys with Sol-i for YEARS to see how far she'll go for him. Dae-sung is better in some aspects, thinking more about Sol-i's happiness than his own. However, his love borders on obsession, and I seriously dislike how many years he waits for Sol-i just to be rejected all over again. It is just insane for him to have waited fifteen years and not move on. Ha-young and Jin-hwan's relationship is also a mess. Ha-young was practically in love with someone else, and then she switches feelings within a day?

Also, the kisses in this show were to faint over, in the wrong way. None of the couples had any real chemistry. Heon and Sol-i's dead-fish kisses made me squirm uncomfortably and all the horrible "we had sex teehee" jokes made me cringe my eyes out. This show would probably be better if ANY of the leads had any chemistry together.

It may also have been better if the female lead, Shin Sol-i, was not SO incredibly bubbly. It's a shame because I like the actress who plays her, but her voice as Sol-i hurts my ears. Her aegyo and constant jumping were just purely annoying, especially when they contrasted too hard with Kim Yohan's total emotionless acting (let's just say he got MUCH better in School 2021). Also, all of them acted the same at 30 as at 17. This was insane. No way a 30-year-old woman whines and pouts the way a child does to act cute.

Speaking of, 15 years was an unrealistic time gap. I get that the original Chinese story took place over that long, but it's just unbelievable that these characters went from teenagers to their 30s with barely any stylistic change. Especially with the runtime being so short, a decade passes by too quickly. It would've been much better if it had taken place over six or seven years. Not to mention more realistic. Is Cha Heon supposed to be perceived as a senior doctor when he looks like a 20-year-old? Come on...

And get this! Somehow, I still enjoyed it!?!?! This show took me YEARS to finish. I tried watching it when it first came out on Netflix, and I dropped it after 8 episodes; I used to agonize over pressing play. Three years later, I decided to pick it up again, and something just hit differently this time; perhaps it was the fact that I realized how foolish a lot of these problems were and could laugh at them. The show was cute and something to entertain me when I was bored. I would not necessarily recommend it as a story. But if it has been on your radar for a while and you happen to love horrible love triangles, this will be a hoot!

Read More

Ultimately as (un?)satisfying as season 1

I finally finished Color Rush 2 today (since I watched it on Viki), and I have honestly concluded that it is neither better nor worse than its previous installment. I decided to go in with no expectations since I gave myself too high expectations for season one. I wasn't even disappointed with the news of a new character instead of Yoo-han, I was just impressed that the screenwriters were able to do it. After completing the show, I've come up with this conclusion: this show was better in ways Color Rush was worse, but it also lacked the things Color Rush did right.

The story was once again quite innovative, something we haven't seen before in dramas. The problem is that they introduced a bunch of new things that weren't established in the first season. Probe drugs? Secret online forums? Some weird cult? Yeon-woo's aunt is suddenly a news anchor? It threw in way too many new factors that the viewers had to adapt to in no time. Sadly the budget was also a hindrance. You could tell they wanted to do more things that weren't possible because of time constraints and money. Still, I feel like they did well with what they had.

Acting-wise, this installment was better, even if only a bit. Yoo Jun once again carried the show, but Hyuk was honestly a better actor than Hyunjun. Acting matters because acting was the primary reason for my negative opinions of Color Rush 1. Yoo Jun might honestly be an acting prodigy because I feel like he was noticeably better than everyone else. An exception could maybe be the voiceovers that were sometimes stiff. Also, kudos to Baek Seo Hoo, he has improved a lot! His role in "Idol: The Coup" did him justice.

Once again, the OST was nice. But oh my god. The sound mixing... I have never experienced worse audio mixing in a drama before. Who allowed this? Who allowed the music to overshadow the dialogue? Who allowed the action scenes and all the punches to go without sound effects? I don't even know if the budget is to blame, because just turning down the music a little bit would've made it better. The action scenes were sadly just laughable. I can't tell if it was the filming or the fact that all the punches and kicks were silent, but it was so underwhelming to watch. This is just a bummer because I can tell that Hyuk worked hard to make the fights look good.

Overall, yes, I liked watching it. Was it messy? Very. But I think that if Color Rush 3 were to ever happen, I'd continue. I think I have to find a way to read the book. I believe it might make more sense.

Read More

In the end, I loved this show

This show might not be a 9/10, but in my heart it is. It's probably the first time my overall rating is higher than the individual ones for story, acting, etc. I have been quite active in the comment section, admittedly often criticizing the show. But honestly? This show was amazing. I don't know why. Maybe part of the magic was that I saw it while it aired, as I tend to fall harder for shows while they're airing.

Good things first: All the actors did amazing jobs and I loved all of the characters. I mean it, I felt sympathy for all characters because they just did such good jobs. Especially Park Jihoon and Bae In Hyuk! Their characters captured me so wildly and were probably my main interest point for this show's story. But honestly? Even the romance had my heart fluttering in the end. As we went further into the show, I loved that we got to know every character and their past. Every character had an interesting story, and we got to see them "grow up" in this stunning coming-of-age setting. The music was also amazing, all the songs from the OST are on my playlist!

The show honestly did have a lot of things I didn't enjoy. One of the things I often criticized was the romance. Does it feel incredibly rushed? I'd say yes, but it depends on who you ask. For me, who had prior knowledge about the Webtoon, felt that they made Sobin too much of a character who needed to be saved. Who needed a "strong man" to have as her boyfriend and protect her. To begin with, I was quite against how Joon and Sobin's relationship developed, but I knew they were obviously gonna start dating because they were pretty clearly advertised to be a couple. But as I mentioned, the two of them started warming up to me a lot. Another thing that bothered me was how dependant the female characters were to the male characters. I still loved the girls so much, but the writers really made their only personality to be the boys they were in love with. Probably the thing I disliked the most was how overshadowed Soo Hyun and Jun's relationship to each other was by the romantic relationships. They advertised this show too much as "showing the development of Soo Hyun and Jun's friendship" when it honestly... didn't.

But still, overall, this show was thrilling to me. Is this a nine out of ten? No, but yes. I loved this show so much and I'm gonna miss Mondays and Tuesdays now that it doesn't air anymore. Even if you're skeptical because of the romance, I think you should watch it. It brought me a lot of joy, and maybe it will bring to you too!

Read More