Shiro

Touching, progressive and informative

This movie is the type to shoot an arrow straight thru the heart, some people will watch this and think, oh a story about the struggles of a person with a trans identity, and do not get me wrong it does show a pretty clear depiction of the day to day struggles as well as part of the journey of a trans woman, the strength in this movie is its portrayal of motherhood and family as no one seemed to react when Tomo was living with her negligent, slightly alcoholic biological mother but put her together with a trans woman and suddenly people seem to care...

I loved the family moments, the struggles the over protective mother and the great palett of motherhood showed here, what makes a good mother? what makes a family? I also loved how it showed realistic ways to deal with life outside the norm as well how relatable the characters are.

The show does a great job showing both the struggles and pain a child may face due to grownups %&€%#& €%#%#% "€("€("#B"##€="#€"€("=#(%"(%". Including neglect, bullying and loss of strength to live without neglecting the strong hold parents have on their children.

I am a little bit disappointed they casted a cis man as Rinko, he did do a good job portraying her but it would have been better if a tans woman or woman would have been casted to play this role. However I do not know much about the industry in Japan but in a better wold that will be done.

I have seen that some people complained about the obsession with boobs, however I think those matter more than many people think as they are clear markers and what most people notice first. "Imagine being a girl but never getting boobs".

I also love the humour here and there, there is a lot of funny kick up moments, family fun and so much love in this movie it is hard not to fall for the characters.

Definitely a movie I strongly recommend to all...

Story that needs to be told: 10
Bring out your anger towards society: 10
Family: 10
Exitment: medium

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Family ties and romance...

This feels more like a movie than a series, as the pacing, music, story, cinematography, time well everything gave the vibe of a well made movie.

The story is good, unlike many web dramas it does not feel rushed in anyway it has a beginning a middle, some kind of conflict and of course an ending too... one of those that fit the feel there could be a sequel but if the sequel would add anything to the story seems questionable.

What I loved about this movie (series that I shall now name movie), was the way it was filmed, and though the side characters where not always necessary they did add some extra flavour and had 0 annoying tendencies... I would for instance love a GL about the sister and the ML friend... The sister is probably one of my favourite siblings in all of Dramaland...

The romance here is pretty good, having the boys see each other for who they really are, or at least one of them, a guy who is very caring and sweet... But what makes this movie really good is actually the story within the story, the film within the film about the a child's relationship to weight loss and how it with the combination badly handled divorce/separation can scar a child deeply. They also show different types of not so perfect, I would even say some pretty bad parenting and it is done well!

Level of... 1-10
Bingeabilaty: 10
Cute couple: 9
Drama: 7
Exitment:5
Entertainment: 9
Annoying elements: non
Cinematography: 9

So if you ask me this is definitely worth watching!

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Lovely leads and a decent story brought down to the ground by holes and cringe

This drama starts off all fun perfectly balanced between the cold, warm, the tight slightly wet buttoned downed shirts and dimples for as far at the eye can see... The male lead who had had heart surgery actually had a scar..

The over top potential pot holes where kept to minimum and the "oh my god I am in the future" potential over the top low humour was kept to a minimum. The Product placement was top of the top!

The leads out of this world with great chemistry and an amazing use of flowers and butterflies everywhere... The side character are lovable too, the evil is evil and there is this nice mist of know who the real enemy is all over the ground...

But then came the cringy monologs, the twists that just stoped making sense in the context and the lovely scar from the heart surgery was found to be lacking as they either placed a pace maker either from the wrong entrance or it magically grew there... And well in this drama there was indeed a whole lot of magic but creating cyborgs just was not really part of it... The lovely wet shirts got covered up more and more with not so good looking suits (still ok, just not as good)... The evil villains started to get these meeeh back stories that kind of killed the mood.

So the score that was way up there started to go down, down,... and almost hit a 7 before it went back up to an 8.

So what can I say, this is a sweet easy binge with great leads and just a little to much cringe for it to be a great watch

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Till the end of this Mess....

This is more or less what you get if you google random storylines and just randomly mix em up, copy a bit here paste a bit there... cut it in to a bunch of pieces that fade in to each other like a musical medley... add some good cast, bad dubbing, pretty pictures but awful CGI and vwalla you have 40 episodes of what the *** did I watch and why am i still watching this?

However! I am pretty sure the cast had a lot of fun filming this as they got to portray a whole lot of personalities and showcase their range, I am pretty sure they too had no clue about the story so the risk of leaking spoilers was really kept to a minimum. Among these personalities we got cold as ice, hot as lava, toxic, mean, addicted, obsessed, loving, kind, more obsessed... Seriously probably one of the worse cases of obsessed I have ever seen... Healer, killer, lier, backstabber, frontstabber... We have lovers, bromances, the lies for your own good, the lies for the good of the universe, and probably some lies told for the good of some random cat somewhere... Or just for fun... For those of you who love watching actors spit blood you are truly in for a treat as there are very few scenes that do not include the occasional blood spat... It is hard to fit ppl in to a costume drama but I am sure this was sponsored by the cranberry juice and fake blood association of China.

It is probably easier to list what you won't find in here which is logic, consistency , modern stuff, and quality.

But if there is anything else you desire, it is sure to show up at some point or another.

P.s. it has an amazing flaming umbrella

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8 minutes in heaven (yes it is a play on the game)

This little side story is way better than the drama is so far, it is sweet, and has more depth in 8 minutes than the first six episodes had all together.As these 8 minutes show both a different dynamic to the duo, not only do these 8 minutes sum up what the two have learned about each other so far, there is actually a plot in these 8 minutes including some suspense, drama and affection beyond the lust...

So if you do watch the drama do not miss out on these, if you decide not to watch the whole drama you can still watch these 8 minutes of heavenly sweetness... 8 minutes in heaven, 8 minutes of playfulness... 8 minutes of cuteness, care and what not.

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We Go FAST Through the Censorship Process...

This is one of those dramas where we witness how patriotism and propagande pretty much take away all the focus from the otherwise ok plot. A drama with some really good characters, friendships and relationships that just do not get the time they deserve to develop and give us our romance and fluff... Instead we keep on seeing how evil the foreign countries can be... How they just discard the Chinese engineering, and that China is better off fighting alone... or together with other Chinese people... putting trust in pretty much any one outside Chine is bad... and so on and so on... Between the moments of Go China we get to see opposites attract, trauma will confine you but love, trust and the mother land will set you free...

The pacing for the couples is frustratingly slow, and on again off again at times even if most of the characters are lovely. I did find it hard to relate to their choices. The drama could have been 10 episodes or less if they just cut out the flashbacks, slow mo, and repetitive stuff.

That said I did find myself curious about how things will turn out, I was rooting for the couples, and the umbrellas in this drama where top, top, top!

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A lot of words that start with the letter P, and perfect for me...

What do you get if you combine the best parts of Who are you, school 2015 with My Name and add some political fight the power stuff and make it in Thailand instead of South Korea?

Nothing perfect, but definitely something for me... This drama just ticked so many boxes with things I loved taking me on an exciting journey with a powerful political statement in-bedded in a nail-biting plot with just the perfect amount of bromance, romance, and everything in-between...

A drama where the plot is so good that all the "ohh they are so cute" just feel like an added bonus, do not get me wrong there is plenty of fan service such as oil wrestling, dimples and what not... but it does not take over and feels true to the plot. So to say that I loved this is an understatement...

The cinematography the directing, the styling, the writing everything was all well done, there is one point where the clothes more or less match the colors in the abandoned building. Fine there where where a few plot holes here and there, like running around and leaving fingers prints all over the place... and some plot twists were pretty predictable... but as a whole this was really high quality and highly entertaining at the same time (a more rare combination than one might think) . And what can I say even the PPL was noticeable but not over the top. And the so called sex-scenes where very tastefully made.

The relationships are for the most part pretty consensual, though they do seem to punch each other a lot, fight till the brink of death and may just have a Punch and make up kind of take to the classic kiss and make upp... but once you look past that most of the characters are actually rather nice , not so very toxic and definitely likeable.

There is some pretty powerful art and da3nce and the take on identical twins is very interesting.

To conclude definitely a good highly bingable drama for anyone one who enjoys a bit of fight the power, with a side of romance.

P.S After watching Theory of love I was already very impressed by Guns acting while not as impressed by Offs acting however this drama only strengthened my adoration for Gun and gave me a new found one for Off... Their chemistry is phenomenal so I am starting to get the whole OffGun Hype if there is one.

Also, this is one of those dramas where time flies, you start watching it and poof you are half way thru it without noticing the time...

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Eveil, evil, corruption and greed, so what is not to like?

If you are here for the romance, then back away and go watch something else.... However if you are here for an interesting plot with twists, greed, corruption, cruelty, evil, more evil... so much evil that I thought of renaming it children of evil... and some more corruption privileged brats! With a side of friendship, sweetness, and maybe a small drop of romance in a lovely frame of umbrellas. This is the right place for you!

This drama is actually pretty hilarious with lots of great dark humour and one liners... that play a little bit with other well know n dramas that deal with corrupt parents going to great lengths for paving the way over other children so that their children can get a head.... So if you like that type of theme you will probably enjoy this too.

There where a few small issues here and there that bothered me including their portrayal of people becoming so obsessed that they go insane in a pretty stereotypical way. The last episode was also a bit of a mess most of the time... making the pace, sloooooooooow, slooooow, fast, slooow. slow... mess...


The teens here did a amazing job, and so did the leads portraying characters with all kinds of development and personality changes... And It was done brilliantly!

There where plenty of people here to bring out your inner anger and frustration, fun PPL and pretty cinematography with a decent OST, making math look both pretty and even a tad sexy, so hats off to the creators for achieving the impossible.

This was also mid to highly bingable, and most certainly worth watching.

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The Cringe You Give Me

This is a story about a bunch of women who at first try to come off as independent, smart and in no need of a man what so ever, and the men who are there to prove them wrong.

As it starts off all women can do it but quickly turns in to women can't do it... just to go back to woman should be able to do it but most men suck, society sucks and it is damn hard to be a women so while they do not want a knight they will need a soldier to do the legwork... Or something like that. Some of this was good, some of this was made so bad I felt like throwing a bunch of books at the writers and other parts where just meeh. As they do make an honest attempt to show the struggles many women (especially single mothers) face, but ends up becoming a celebration of the nuclear family... So if you are in to that stuff this drama is great.

The characters in this drama are pretty interesting, those who are supposed to be lovable are lovable those who are supposed to be despicable are indeed easy to hate. All have good moments, but most lovable characters also have moments of adolescent, nonsensical inconsistent annoyance except for our female lead and the kid who both are a lot more mature than the rest of the characters.

The main couple also share a bunch of bickering fun moments as well as good chemistry and great kisses. No dead fish in sight which is indeed lovely but can get to be too much at times.

The interactions with the kid are just so cute they will make you cringe. But the kid is indeed lovable and the father- son moments/outfits are some of the best in all of dramaland. The kid actually got to have a scar after his surgery unlike his father who has this AMAZING healing ability, not a scar in sight 5 years post surgery.

There is a great glass shattering scene, not very necessary but indeed lovely to watch.

Part of me loves the fact that two of the leads have an hereditary heart condition yet are portrayed as more than just a condition... competent, lovable... but the conversation and way things around the heart condition where handled brought out my inner anger, making me want to visit the glass shattering space shown in the drama.

So what can I say there is some good, a lot of bad and a whole lot of cringe... but the acting is decent, chemistry good and the story it self could have been better.

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So bad it is hilarious

This drama is so bad, so bad, so bad...

I am pretty sure the casting of Price Zayne went;

Ok line up

Take of your shirts

Smile

Ready set go, strip...

Fastest wins...

Some people had great singing voices
Some people had ok acting skills

Only one person in the whole drama had both... and that was probably Mikey. I am pretty sure about 90% of the laughter in the drama was real and not acting, out of embarrassment... Like are you kidding me you expect me to say this with a straight face...

The humour dirty and low... The quality of the music varies but is hilarious at times.

The sound awful, the filming awful, the dog adorable... the people adorable... the characters highly lovable... I may actually miss them all... And I hardly ever miss any characters... And the budget for bananas probably huge...

To sum it up this is not for everyone but I enjoyed it in all its terrible everything and may actually rewatch an episode or two now and then ...

Also people, it is hot in the Philippines!

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A good murder, mystery, romance, friendship drama with a whole lot of pain

This is a drama that raises the oh so important question:

Is it worth finding out who murdered your soulmate , if it means you may have to let go of his presence as a ghost?

It is also a drama that beautifully portrays love and loss, and is defiantly one of those dramas that you start watching while knowing you are in for a whole lot of pain...
.
Going in to this you are also probably fully aware of the pretty faces and good acting that will a company that pain, at least if you look at the cast list before you start watching it. Making it just that much more painful, because, if the acting would have been meeh you would probably not feel as much pain, but then again meeh acting and pain are just not really worth it anyway.

This on the other hand is so worth it, as you not only get a painful romance, you also get a bromance, a murder mystery and a ghost seeing male lead without to much second hand embarrassment. Though the ghost seeing male lead had some over acting moments I actually really liked him the rest of the time. As he did bring a whole lot of heart in to this character and was probably a perfect fit.

As for our female lead she was just so human, perfectly imperfect, sweet, and a great at showing whole range of emotions. She embodied the not wanting to let go just so perfectly. She was lovable, relatable and bad ass all at once.

Our ghost male lead was also really well casted, a cold guy with a few hot spots the few shows of emotions became that much more powerful.

So what can I say the pacing is decent, the predictability pretty high yet it still managed to keep me interested. I love the way the story unfolds, with spots of excruciating pain but also a lot of fluff, love, bromance, romance between the painful moments.

As for the OST we do get both the piano, the guitar and some shout out pain rock, the type that I think only J-dramas can offer. And I loved it.

So if you can handle some pain, this is a great place to find it, if not then move a long there is nothing to see here...

Also I did not like the last episode, it did not go well with the rest of the drama, but I am personally act like it never happand... So I did not let it affect the score.

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X-men meet serial killer

I was promised pain, gore and a bunch of pretty faces... and got pain gore and a bunch of pretty faces in this X-men meet serial killer...

What I liked was the visuals and the sound of connect... it felt cute yet bloody in a way. I also liked seeing Jung Hae In and Go Kyung Pyo + am crushing really badly on Kim Hye Joon who pretty much stole the show.

Go Kyung Pyo is an amazing priest type of serial killer, extremely well casted! There is something about a cold serial killer vibe that captivates me and keeps me interested. And well the execution here was flawless...

Jung Hae Ins character is kind of pathetic and though the acting was good I just did not fall for the character, he did not captivate me at all. Something that speaks poorly about the character since me not falling head over healls for a character played by Jung Hae In is pretty rare. Something that kind of drags down the score. I am however hoping that character takes on some other traits for the next season. That said I do like his look and find the missing eye adorable, but it did start a slight questioning of faith towards my fanhood towards Jung Hae In.

Kim Hye Joon is amazing I love her, she is going straight to the crush list if she is not there and I am hoping to see a lot more of her, here there,,, everywhere.

All in all a decent watch if you can take a bunch of violence and without a lot of substance...

P.S. the portrayal of organ transplants did not bother me at all.... And if you are expecting anything realistic back away and watch pretty much anything else.

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Aye rolling 12 step I mean episode cringe

The leads are kind of sweet and so are the friendships and people around them but the humour is low, the acting varies and the amount of times I rolled my eyes made me slightly worried they would get stuck there...

The second hand embarrassment in this is enough fill the glasses in a korean after work gathering.
The plot was so predictable one could smell most of the twists from Buchan to Seoul.
And the yelling, oh so much chasing and yelling, and chasing and ylling, gossip and yelling, and gossip, and cliche, and yelling, nd boohoo its all my fault... Im a terrible (insert family status)....

The leads over all character are kind of cool, dare I say bad ass, just not when they interact with their family. The romance between the leads was cringe, oh so cringe... Still loved the couple for some unexplainable reason making me stick with this eye rolling awful drama.. Through our male leads saviour complex, through the monologs....

The second couple feel a bit like a puddle left after Something in the Rain (the drama), They had their moments but I kept getting de ja vu and not in a good way.

No one could read the room and I kept wondering why oh why do they treat grown ups like you (should probably not )treat small kids. That said almost each character had its moment of bad ass, sweet, shiny lovable, but also have their moments of wtf... oh come on get over yourself... Can a person be this stupid and still function as an adult? The only person who was pretty decent to watch from start to finish was probably the married mechanic best friend.

To be honest it felt like a 12 episode anti drinking campaign...one minute, hour, day, week, month at a time people...

So do I recommend this?

NO

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Let Me be Your Knight meets Idol-the Coup with a twist and an Age Gap...

It started a 9, went up to a solid 10 but took a dive to a 7,5 and well ended up an 8,5...

While I am not one to encourage people to fall for their teacher, I did fall for the main couple in this drama, it helps that he is a pretty cold mature type and an adult when the whole falling in love part actually takes place.. but I would be lying if I did not say it bothered me a little.. That said this is the story of the burnt out teacher who finds her self as the house mom of a failed boyband who just happens to include a student at her former school who she once encouraged to pursue a career in music... the start of a very complicated journey of friendship, encouragement, jealousy, and yes tiny (very tiny )amount of romance...

I loved the boys during the first 6-7 episodes or so, the music, the fluff... whole Idol-The Coup meets let me be your knight with a Japanese twist and an age gap definitely has all the ingredients to make me completely fall in love with this show , which I did... However as the episodes passed by, the I found that they added on some of my less loved cliches and shifted focus from the stuff I loved to stuff I did not care for as much ... taking away my oh so beloved fluff, it was still ok but I felt a bit cheated by the os so Perfect for me start... But that does not have to mean that you will not enjoy the last third of the show. As it was not bad or anything... I guess I felt that several of my beloved characters disappointed me and had some negativ character development....

Being a former teacher myself I love how the female lead guides the boys and tries to dig out their full potential... I alos love the representation of different types of people in this, as it just fits in perfectly in the dialog and plot and does not feel forced. There are also a bunch of adorable animals, a unique umbrella scenen and just a whole lot of good... and it will have you smiling from ear to ear thinking ooooh so cute...

So if you like watching dramas about idols, music, people who have been completely ruined by the world try to come agin... then tis is definitely a good place to watch it. If you do not like dramas about idols, ands etc... then I wonder how come you got this far in this review as this is obviously not a drama for you.

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Sooo good yet so draggy...

Once upon a time there was a lonely prince who lived in a palace where toxic masculinity and rivalry ruled... The women where abused and used as objects owned by men. Tradition was supposedly strong in the palace and any one male or female who tried to go up against it was tossed in to a marriage against their will, pretty much forced to commit suicide or ended up in prison. People where scheming plots all over the place...

But one day the prince met a girl whom was warm, funny and loved food above anything. And while he could not make her his wife he made her is concubine... Which made for the start of a whole bunch of people working towards new lives... and yes A New Life Begins...

The drama has a lot of everything, maybe a bit to much of everything as nothing seems to get fully explored and both drags out for what seems like an eternity only to be wrapped up with a few lines here and there... maybe a slow mo scene of the result but the turns are fast and the process extremely inconsistent. Is this the result of poor writing, censorship or a writer who just wants to include a bit to much I do not know... But it did feel very off at times. Which is really sad because there is so much good in here.

Both leads are lovable, good actors, have great chemistry and lovely interactions with each other with some pretty steamy kisses. Unfortunately. their story does not get nearly enough screen time as all those other side plots take away from their time together. However I do have to say that this is a male lead who even though he grew up in the toxic palace actually seems to have some kind of respect for women and can both take no for an answer and seems to try to avoid forcing himself on the female lead even if they are supposed to try to consummate the guy seems to want to the girl to actually want to consummate before consummating. Showing some type of consent culture.

The food in this drama is mouth watering, making you hungry every single episode.

The side couples are mostly lovely and show a bunch of ways of power relations and personalities... As we get to see the difference between domestic violence practiced by people with power and violence in the relationship practiced by people with less power. Non are good but we do get to see a nuance done pretty well.

We also get to see a lot of women empowerment, sisterhood and a potential poly relationship that could have been so good if the drama was not so obsessed with monogamy vs concubine culture.... There is one truly annoying character but she grew on me after a while, but then she pretty much disappeared from the plot.

This drama is a good pick for those who like c-historical with many episodes and do not mind the draggy parts. For those who want to see 100 years of woman's rights battles cut down to about 3 or 4 years and are okay with getting pebbles of great romance between sisterhood, friendship, family relations, politics, food and pretty much everything in-between...

However if you are like me you will miss the pebbles and find it draggy and may find yourself struggling to finish it wanting to drop it yet still not being able to score it to low because it just has so many good parts in it...

Also the predictability is pretty high so do not expect to be kept on your toes, at all.

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