This review may contain spoilers
Underrated, brutal, and thrilling.
Tokyo Swindlers is a super underrated drama about a group of land swindlers in Japan.The drama was gripping from start to finish and keeps the watcher hooked with twists and interesting "heist" plans. At first I thought the drama would be more in the style of K-drama "Taxi Driver" in that it focuses on multiple different cases. However Tokyo Swindlers mostly focuses on one single "heist", one that would be enough for most of the swindlers to retire.
The acting throughout is good but nothing particularly great or special. Go Ayano's acting and character was my personal favorite. I also liked how the drama showed the police side of the swindling too. The drama follows a duo consisting of a young and enthusiastic femaledetective + and old and experienced male detective, both characters had great acting and the characters were interesting. I would have hoped to see even more of them however.
A surprising aspect of the drama is how brutal and hard-to-watch it is at many point. Numerous characters in the drama suffer significantly, and the drama also shows brutal fight scenes and gore. Also what makes the drama hard-to-watch is that, except the police detectives, all characters are bad, disgusting people who will not stop at anything to achieve their goals.
I do have two big complaints about the drama. First, the drama does a very tired and much used twist/plot point in a very predictable and not very exciting way. I would have liked to see even more of Harrison and Takumi's relationship and backstories to make the story overall more interesting. Second flaw in my opinion is the ending. The final episode overall was good and the last 30 minutes was particularly wild and exciting. The actual ending itself was quite boring and didn't make me feel anything really. It almost seems as if they left the story unfinished and open in some aspects to be able to continue it. And if not, the ending is disappointing regardless.
Tokyo Swindlers is a gripping and extremely brutal crime thriller that is a must-watch for fans of the genre! The series has its flaws but they don't detract too much from the overall watch experience. Now I have to go find more of Go Ayano's films and series!
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Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area - Part 1
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Excellent first half to Korean adaptation of La Casa De Papel
I have watched the original but it has been years so I didn't remember much from it. Having now finished the first half of this korean adaptation, I can say I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.This first half felt very similar to the original so props will mostly go to the writers of the original, but this drama has done everything right so far:
-Interesting and varied cast of characters who are all excellently acted. The cast and acting the original was absolutely amazing, but they have adapted all characters perfectly here and done the original justice.
-Great pacing. There's zero unnecessary scenes or dragging, no boring moments whatsoever.
-Tense atmosphere and action that kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the first half. The action scenes are some of the best I've seen in a while in K-dramas. (Episodes 5-6 especially were crazy!)
Two things I hope of the second half:
-More action. The action in part 1 was great, I just wish there would be even more of it!
-More deviation from the original. I hope they don't go too far into unnecessary plotlines or anything, but I do hope that there will some significant additions that weren't in the original.
Very excited to watch the second half!
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Not what I expected but ended up loving the drama.
Before watching I expected Kingdom to be a slow political thriller with zombies here and there.However, Kingdom is a very fast-paced zombie action thriller that is absolutely stunning visually, taking the watcher straight to the 17th century Joseon.
In my opinion almost everything in this drama is perfect, acting and the action sequences especially impressed me.
I do have two very minor issues about the story and characters. While the characters are interesting, I would have liked to see more focus on the character development and their backstories.
Additionally, the ending is exciting but almost cliffhanger-y, which I'm usually not a big fan of. The good thing is that Kingdom has a 2nd season that you can watch immediately after finishing season 1!
This is a must watch drama for fans of historical, action, thriller, and zombie dramas!!
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This review may contain spoilers
A slightly disappointing ending.
The second half of the drama was definitely weaker than the first. The acting was excellent and the drama still was very gripping. I liked the story a lot —up until episode 14.In the last two episodes the story got a little messy in my opinion. A lot of unexplained and just weird plot points. The revenge itself also didn't feel as satisfying as I had hoped and the ending felt rushed. The romance between the main characters also didn't work because of the massive age gap and lack of chemistry.
Overall I still enjoyed part 2 and the issues didn't really ruin the drama. I am just disappointed as I expected this drama to become one of my favorites. To the drama as a whole I would give 8,5/10.
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Action-packed medical drama with great characters!
The high rating is definitely deserved here. I'm a huge fan of medical/hospital series and was very satisfied with the drama. To start off, this drama managed to avoid all the pitfalls that medical series typically have:-Too much focus on uninteresting hospital politics. Trauma Code has this element too but it provides a good villain in the background, not something that takes half of the runtime.
-Too much focus on patients and their backstories. I really dislike when medical series do the "case-of-the-week" style where the series focuses on one or a few patients every episode and their backstories. Medical series should focus on the doctors. There can be some patients where some background story is given, but it should be not be the main focus. Trauma code was excellent in this aspect too, focus was on the doctors throughout the series.
-Series starts to resemble a soap opera with unnecessary character drama and relationships. Trauma Code had a very likeable cast with well-acted and interesting characters, and it didn't have any unnecessary drama among those characters. Trauma code also didn't have any romance in it, which worked in its favor for sure.
-Not enough focus on the actual medical side of things. Many medical series take place in hospitals, yes, but they don't show actual traumatic injuries or surgeries in detail. If a medical series succeeds in this aspect, it gets a lot of points from me. Trauma code certainly did, we are shown many different accidents, injuries, surgeries, and operations.
And to add to those points, Trauma Code has a lot personality and heart to it. Characters develop throughout the series and every character is interesting from start to finish. Ju Ji-hoon did amazing in the role of Baek Kang-Hyuk, an exceptionally skilled and charismatic trauma surgeon, who also has a mysterious past. All the other actors were great too. I really liked Ha Young's nurse character, she was funny and very supportive towards others, especially towards Choo Young-woo's character who sometimes needs a little confidence boost and is unsure about himself.
Also, the pacing is great. There's just enough slower character-building moments to balance the great medical action. No boring moments at all!
All in all, a fantastic medical series with interesting characters and amazing medical action! My only criticism would be that the drama is too short haha :D A rare case where I really want the drama to continue and have more episodes. Would easily give this a rating of 9,5/10, maybe even 10/10.
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Amazing but very underrated comedy
Wow, I loved everything about Seoul Busters. I've never laughed this much while watching a K-drama, every episode is full of absolutely hilarious situations and physical comedy while the Team tries to solve various crimes.Every cast member is perfect and the acting is excellent. Each member in the team was special and memorable in their own way and the chemistry between them works very well. I got so attached to the characters that by the end I was just left wanting more immediately :D
This drama also perfectly balances comedy and more serious topics. While there is serious topics, events and dark backstories, the comedy always stays prominent and the drama never gets too dark. I didn't expect much at the start but the drama also manages to mix in emotional and heartwarming moments in a very natural and fitting way.
A perfect drama in my opinion, I have no complaints or issues whatsoever with the drama. Such a shame that the drama is so underrated, I know many people would love it if it just got more visibility and popularity. This seems to be a common issue with Disney+ dramas in general, too often they're overlooked and are unknown to many people. Well, I'm super happy I found Seoul Busters and I know I will be rewatching this for the laughs and funny moments :D
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This review may contain spoilers
Became one of my favorite dramas :D
After finishing Dr. Romantic season 3 I can comfortably say it has become one of my favorite K-dramas ever. This drama was something special for me and always put a smile on my face when watching.The medical side of the drama was super interesting and exciting throughout and the different patient cases were perfectly paced and mixed in the drama. I only would have wished for a bit more variety in the medical cases.
The characters are all absolutely amazing and the acting is excellent. I was sceptical at first of the big casting changes in season 2 but I ended up loving all of the new characters too. Yun Seojeong from season 1 probably still remains my favorite character (and I was super excited to see her at the end of season 3 :D)
The actual story is also great. There was just a perfect mix of medical cases, relationships, and events outside of the hospital. I really appreciated how the drama focused on the medical part and the relationship parts were a nice bonus, sprinkled in here and there. The hospital politics I could have done without but in seasons 1 and 3 there wasn't too much of it at all.
The heart of the drama, Kim Sabu, was also prominent in all seasons and I was left impressed in almost every episode by his profound and wise teachings and dialogue. A consistent theme throughout all seasons is Kim Sabu teaching younger doctors what it means to be a good doctor with good values and a positive outlook on life.
Everything in Dr. Romantic put a big smile on my face. I will be remembering fondly the staff of Doldam that felt like a big family, the profound and memorable dialogue, the heartwarming and heartbreaking medical cases, the cozy and comforting feeling/atmosphere of the drama, and of course Jang Gitae's ridiculous laugh :DDDDDDDD
Dr. Romantic is a must-watch for everyone!
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