ShortCircuit

I am 4 eps into My Personal Weatherman and I can't get over how much he looks like Park SeongHwa, LOL. Those lips are exactly the same, his expressions at times are exactly the same, these guys can be identical twins from different countries, LOL.

This is based on a novel by Priest. By definition, Priest writes a plot, not a romance. So the heavy themes and light sprinkles of cute and romance are to be expected, actually. It's just how she writes things.

The CDS always works in mysterious ways, LOL. And he totally got a SIC (standard issue cat, for people who aren't "in" *wink*), too :D

This is like watching a trainwreck - sudden, hazy, strange but impossible to look away from.

The good things: most of the scenes the FL isn't in (she's improved since the first two eps, but not by much). There is actually some bromance going on and not just a transactional relationship. The plot seems to finally be going somewhere (though in twenty directions at once, LOL). There are some actual feeling-human people in this drama (InHa, as in the first eps, HuiJu, and even TaeOh comes online from time to time, LOL). Some nice and witty phrases now and then (like "You're the devil / You're not an angel yourself" - that was good.)

The bad things... so many of them.

First - 5 years later, 3 days before, 5 years later again (no idea what's the reference point in time, LOL), 1 day before... I got whisplash and I have no idea when exactly anything is happening at any given moment. (BTW did these guys go to the army so far? Because it looks like they entered "the game" in their mid-20s and with the time skips they'd be in the beginning of their 30s by now, wouldn't they?!)

Second - this is the beginning of everything. This is the start of the plan. This is the beginning of the game. This is the start. This is the first... (you get the idea). That became tiresome VERY fast. Okay, now things are in motion please stop telling me things are starting. We're a third through the drama, let's have some actual middle parts too.

Third... the transitions. WTF are those transitions?! They never make any sense. The music ends and we're given a dark slide, then the music (sometimes the same music) picks up again and we're somewhere in a different scene but not always much different - WTF, make smooth transitions or hard stops, editing team, this looks sloppy and annoying and I'm not even a tech dealing with edits, LOL.

Fourth - the story still isn't coming together. I can see so many puzzle pieces but they don't fit together and it doesn't look like the writer is able to make them fit in the end. For a rather short drama - 12 eps and we've seen 4 already - they should probably be further on with the plot... I'm not really invested in anyone BUT InHa, and that's only because he definitely is the most human among them, so easier to empathize with... But we've seen 1001 scenes with the conglomerate second wife being a conglomerate second wife and pushing her son to the top and about 3-4 scenes with the neglected (bastard) third son, who is supposedly one of the leading roles.

Fifth... Their personal stories are being poured so haphazardly into this, they don't make any sense. We've been treated with a full ep of HyeWon's backstory about the abusive thieving mom, and only now we've been given a (short and unexplained) scene into InHa's own backstory... Because why the hell?! I hope they fix that ASAP. And also, another thing that doesn't make sense - the chairman knows what TaeOh did as a kid and presumably can tell which side of the bed he got off in the morning, BUT doesn't know he and InHa get together all the time, have been friends since highschool and plan things together?!

And I could keep going. There are so many plot holes they probably won't have time to fill in this drama, I guess it'll be extremely frustrating in the end...

But again - this is a trainwreck... Once in a while, you can't escape looking at them, so I'll probably just sit back and enjoy the mess, given that the FL appears as little as possible.

ETA NEVER TELL ME THEY RELEASED THESE EPS TOO SOON BY MISTAKE!!! LOL
This is SO like the whole plot of the drama - rushed, unplanned, out of the blue - oops! hahaha~

In view of that, I'll hide the rest under a spoiler, though there's not much of a spoiler, just a personal impression on it, so far.

Well, he aimed to become someone important enough to make his own choices / take over the rogue clan. In his family, even if he eventually became the leader, choosing his own targets would never had been on the table.

It's the girl with the ancient haircut, LOL, the one who lured and met his sister with the museum thing she stole and wanted returned. She's in the rogue clan too.

Because his family always followed someone's orders. Usually someone in the government, but they never know who it is exactly that is giving the orders. And they just follow them - stealing, killing, the works, just because they're shinobi and that's what shinobi do.

The rogue shinobi clan decided they're going to do whatever the freak they want and never take anyone's orders but their clan leader's. I guess Gaku - after almost being killed in a fight not of his own and losing a leg anyway - decided he's done following anyone else's orders.

And there's a girl involved, too.

Though I do find it annoying they never even tried to give her a new hairstyle for 7 years in prison, WTF, pay attention to some details, production team!

Also, why the heck is he a choir master in prison and then looks basically the same when she's out after serving her time? Did he go there to be close to the woman arsonist who killed his family, IF he is the child that survived? Or did he go there to be close to ESH because she killed his father, if he's that man's child?

And with the preview of the next week's eps - what, is this going to turn into an action drama now?!

I guess this is going to be a painfest from beginning to the end.

I totally get why she did what she did, though. I would 100% do the same thing, if I could find one actual guilty party to destroy in order to satisfy my anger and pain. Surviving your child is soul destruction.

OMFG Lee TaeVin is playing SeRin's BF and I only recognized him because of his voice LOL. He looks SOOOOO good with black hair. And that voice is mesmerising. MyungHa-ya~~~~

the cutest scene in the manga, when Kai comes back, Hirokuni is under him on that doorstep and Kai goes "If you only knew what I want to do to you..." in a sad manner, as if he's afraid of Hiro's rejection. And Hirokuni replies instead "So DO SOMETHING ALREADY dammit" LOL.

"I want you" conveys much of the same feeling, but I think Hirokuni's complete dive into his own feelings deserved that scene to be as in the manga :(

Ah dammit, they left out...

This is a game of palace politics and a game of survival that seems left to chance... until you see nothing at all is left to chance. And throughout it all there's a healthy sprinkle of deliciously painful sweet bromance (nothing but bromance, don't read BL into it). The politics come off as second-thought after the strategies are employed - the interest is in the success of the strategies, attacks and counter-attacks, LOL.

There won't be individual cases to solve, but there are multiple villains to fight off and bring to the light and punish, so there is a somewhat graded feeling to the plot. It is NOT a mystery drama - the villains are kind of well known from the very beginning and seemingly untouchable... until they're not. There are multiple plots set into place, not just the one big game of who-s-going-to-win-the-throne, the characters are extremely well plotted and acted,

It's not going to be action-heavy, but won't feel like there's no action, either. You'll fall for the characters (good or bad alike) and root for justice, if you go with it. There are going to be personal relationships that will be extremely impactful, and one big secret everyone's keeping from one of the MLs, too, and that reveal is worth waiting for.

You could give a few eps' try (don't judge it from the first ep, or from the first 5 either). The acting is superb, it's one of the best plotted drama ever, the soundtrack is amazing and it will definitely be one of the dramas you'll remember. Just try it :)

PS Don't watch the trailer in MDL, it's generally a spoiler and nothing to make you want to watch the drama. Watch the Japanese DVD trailer, LOL, it's a much better teaser :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYSZpTICPzs

He's the cop who took JiAn to identify JinMan's body, officially, in the morgue. He was acting kind of suspect, too, LOL, what with side-eyeing her all the time she was in shock/reading JinMan's tattoo. Like he was checking out if she's buying it, that JinMan really-really is dead, LOL. He was in on it from the beginning.

I didn't read it, LOL, I don't really enjoy Priest's novels. But I did check out the MTL version of Da Ge (the novel this one's based on) and it's a HEA, for what it's worth :D

So... just thought to check this out coming from a rec on "Train" - not even 5 minutes into the first ep, I'm listening to the Chariots of Fire theme...

I'M IN!!! :D

I did the watch-a-cdrama-with-machine-TL for about three times before I realised it completely undermines everything I like about that drama (if there's anything to like from my POV). For example, one of the best action cdramas - Hunter/Wolf Hunter - has only machine TL even now, and MangoTV keeps doing the same thing with basically all their dramas... well, no more, LOL. I'd rather have a human who understands the language point out the actual meanings than try to make sense of word soup, LOL.

RE reading danmei: to each their own, I say :D But the drama's title doesn't hint at its origins, and KoD is pretty well known. I guess providing the title of the novel it's based on instantly and easily adds a lot of info for anyone who knows about it or has read it (I didn't even know they were making a liveaction drama based on it til the "mistaken" airing, for example, but once I read it's based on KoD, I knew what the story is about... now I just want it to make sense, too :D)

... I forgot I was watching this LOL. I guess I might as well wait til it ends airing...

Yeah, well, The Spirealm is based on Kaleidoscope of Death, people who read danmei will recognize THAT name better, LOL.

I am waiting for an actual human TL subtitle for all eps before I start it, it doesn't seem as scary as the novel (which I couldn't finish, LOL).

...I just realised I'm dissing Faraway Wanderers, LOL. My bad. I mean, modern world Priest novels hahaha *runs away*