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blackstar_aria

313

blackstar_aria

313
Completed
Hayate the Combat Butler
25 people found this review helpful
Nov 4, 2011
20 of 13 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 5.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
Trust me there is a better drama that you could be watching.In chatting with some other drama fans they told me to not watch Hayate, but I couldn't listen to them. I said to myself "the anime was cool so let's try the live action!". I thought the first 2 episodes were good, so I just had to see the rest for myself. What an epic waste of my time and production money!

First what I did like; they used pretty handsome people in the cast, there were also some really cool special effects incorporated in the story. However, I hated that they had Park shin Hye with a voice over, I could never get used to it! I don't know if she was lost in translation because her acting was awful here. I kept thinking Maria should have been the female lead.

I don't know if the episodes were just long or boring. I found myself skipping episodes, and just watching the very beginning and the very end.

I didn't read the manga so maybe the story line in the drama is closest to the original, but I liked the anime way better. I think the drama had trouble staying true to the story that it was based on while trying to update it so it would be realistic and a hit. Maybe some things should never go live action.

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Don Quixote
26 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2011
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
Don Quixote was really enjoyable. Story line was great, it was laugh a minute and Matsuda was a dream to watch.

I wasn't familiar with the traditional story of Don Quixote, but that wasn't necessary because this drama really didn't stick to the traditional story. What the drama took from the Spanish story was a theme of "unconventional chivalry" and really played it up.

Assuming that you read the synopsis, this story is a Secret Garden type of switch but without the romance. (if you didn't see the Kdrama Secret Garden -you need to- but think Freaky Friday). Yes there is essentially no romance in this drama but you really don't miss it. The main characters are like fish out of water and it makes it hilarious to watch.

The two main characters are played excellently by the already awesome Matsuda and Katsumi Takahasi. I loved seeing Matsuda smile and be really dorky then witch to being all Yakuza, if you are a fan of his then there is no reason not to watch. Katsumi was really good to playing a totally dweeb young man , he made it believable.

All in all, this a undeniably great drama. It sucks you in, has great topics and situations and by the end you feel as if you too have gained 2 friends. Even if you see the end coming in this drama, the characters are so likeable that you want them to do their best. All the episodes are good and there is no need to fast forward, and i normally need to fast forward. If you feel like getting away from all of the plotting and scheming that some of the other dramas have, this is a good refreshing one. Watch it. Like now.

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Completed
Unruly Qiao
21 people found this review helpful
Jul 30, 2011
38 of 38 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 6.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
It was ok. In all honesty this drama has nothing to do with the original My Bratty Princess- with the exception that it follows a girl who was dressed as a boy because of some family secret. I really liked that this was a period drama and it had a lot of comedy in it. Theres a ton of cute guys going accross the screen and the fight scenes are cool so its not boring.

If you have already watched the first one, this one is a bit of a let down. The female lead is way weaker and more annoying, not to mention there was a really good reason to hide her identity in the first Bratty Princess, in this one the premise wasnt as good. In the first the development of side characters was stronger as well.

Beware, there are a lot of technical slip ups that you will catch throughout the series like the editing department must have fallen asleep. The voice overs are so unrealistic and annoying and at some point you will want to cuss the emperor for having no balls and the female lead for being annoying.

The end of the series seemed rushed and was slightly disappointing, but otherwise it is a watch-worthy drama if you like period dramas with comedy and not really intense drama.

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Completed
Can't Lose
17 people found this review helpful
Dec 4, 2011
18 of 18 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers
Cant stand losing was pretty good, definitely worth a watch especially if you are a fan of Yoon Sang Hyun. As in the synopsis this story depicts a married couple's love life, its ups and downs, and definitely playing up how men and women are so different. There is a lot of repetition in issues that they have, some watchers didn't like that but I did because it lent itself to authenticity. There are a lot of comical parts, a lot of arguments with everyone, some tragic parts as well, but not a whole lot of romance.

The actual story concept was a good one, 'how married lawyers would fare working with each other day in and day out'. I felt like the writers must have changed somewhere in the middle of the drama because initially the focus was on the couple and their work, and soon it changed to the couple and their inner circle. There were a few holes and discrepancies in the story, some people just suddenly had a additional kid, other characters who had a fairly decent sized role disappeared. (I am trying to avoid spoilers) . The main idea was always there but feel and pace of the drama started to change.

There are a lot of twists, in some cases you know whats going to happen but you still want to see them do it. Yoon Sang Hyun was awesome in this role. He is totally believable! Choi Ji Woo did well but I didn't like her as much as I liked some of the other actors, she really started to get annoying. There weren't any evil mothers, or vengeful sisters but a lot of the couples tearing each other apart. (like in real life).

I liked the ending but it kept me wondering as to what happened. It doesn't happen a lot where a whole episode is dedicated to closing it up so I have no idea how they seemed to leave strings still hanging. There are lots of side stories and tragedies to keep you interested, if you can stay with it for the first 4 episodes you will want to see how it turns out. The story slowed up in the middle, but trudge on with it- its really interesting to get a bird's eye view of relationships.

p.s. its more like a tragic/life drama not so much romcom

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Completed
Drunken to Love You
18 people found this review helpful
Aug 15, 2011
30 of 30 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
Although they say this is a spin off from fated to love you it really isn't. Drunken to Love You is hilarious and there are funny moments almost all the time. Sometimes Taiwanese dramas seem to have a lot of melodrama in them, but this one didn't. However, there are some awful characters, occasional bad acting, and cliché moments but overall Fated to Love You is really likeable.

Now Rainie was awesome ! she seemed so very grown up and not like a kid anymore. Her crying scenes were really tear jearkers, and she really conveyed what the character meant. She is a really good actress. Joe Chang was really good as well but he did have a bit of an overacting bug, still you could really connect with him too. Tiffany Hsu was awful. Not only did it seem like the character was written poorly but her acting skills were the pits and she had no chemistry with Tom Price. (Plus she was annnnoying!!) The mother started out evil for like 1 episode but you will come to love her. You will see all kinds of reoccurring characters and if you watch it on Viki your friends will help pick those folks out!

Drunken to Love You has way less drama going on than Fated to Love you. However, with that said it seemed that Rainie cried just as much.lol. If you loved Fated to love you, if you keep in mind that this is a completely different drama you will like this too. I think both dramas had an innumerous amount of flashbacks and it seemed like there were new characters just coming out with no real purpose. Drunken had a lot of nice sub plots going on but none of them were as developed as the sub plots seemed to be in Fated.

This was a good watch it wasn't heavy with the drama, but it was funny and mainly cheery and had a really sweet ending. That you may not even see coming!

p.s loved the soundtrack.

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Completed
Witch Yoo Hee
17 people found this review helpful
Sep 18, 2011
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
2 words: Epic disappointment.

And it started so good too! Lets get to the pros and cons-

It was an awesome idea to start with a cold blooded woman being melted by a cheery, wanna-be chef. I loved the way that the drama started the story line was moving and developing, different situations occurring, it was exciting! But the story got boring, very predictable, slow and the idea went to crap. Although the concept was Yoo Hee's transformation into a kinder more presentable lady, it happened within the first 6 episodes. This drama focused more on Yoo Hee's love triangles and her naivety in love than her being a tsundere character.I am so frustrated because I didn't like the ending, and I feel like it was a waste of time.

The music is really catchy throughout the drama and for the most part its really well placed. I didn't like Ga In, maybe her acting skills were developing because I loved her in Bad Man. I did like Jae Hee, but his characters seem to be the same in EVERY drama. (although I absolutely hated what happened with his girlfriend in this drama) Dennis Oh and Kim Jeong Hoong were awful, as far as acting goes. The cast didn't seem to have much chemistry, none of the characters really seemed in love with the exception of Jun Hye Bin. Hye Bin was believable!

All in all, you really have to fight through to the end because its boring. However you want to see the characters develop because it begins really charming, funny and cute. My advice start and watch till the 11th episode at that point you can skip to the end. Trust me you wont miss much.

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Completed
Buzzer Beat
25 people found this review helpful
May 3, 2011
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers
I stayed up all night to finish this drama when I watched it. This a very sweet story about 2 people who meet each other and fight to not fall in love. Yamapi in all his super cuteness, plays a naive basketball player who is on the rise. Keiko plays a sweet innocent violin player who is making no money and about to give up. By chance they meet, and keep running into each other, and eventually become each others support when troubles come. I know i cant give any spoilers but...... watch out for the girlfriend she is an unbelievable mess.

if you like romance stories this is an awesome one that doesn't bog you down with too much basketball terminology.

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Completed
Happy Michelin Kitchen
19 people found this review helpful
Feb 2, 2013
32 of 32 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
Happy Michelin Kitchen is a story about a girl who is mistaken as a boy, has an intense drama filled past and come out of it all on top to be very happy and successful.
I wanted to love this drama- allegedly its part of a Happy T-drama series (Happy and Love Forever, Sunny Happiness (which was good) , and this one) that reused the same actors and built upon each other. I really loved Sunny Happiness because although it wasn’t original it was realistic and the “co-incidences” were low. Fresh off the drama high from Sunny Happiness I dove into Happy Michelin Kitchen ready for an intense drama marathon. I was sorely disappointed. Happy Michelin Kitchen also looks to be a knockoff of “Coffee Shop Prince” but there is a reason why it is always better to get the real thing.
The Good. A few handsome guys and interesting cuisine are the best points of this drama. I like strong female leads and this drama has one. There was also some really nice scenery shots and the flashbacks were at a minimum until the last few episodes.
The Bad. Its an awesome concept to reuse characters and actors from previous dramas- that way the dramas have a common thread. HMK re used characters but changed the personalities making it sooo confusing and difficult to accept and care about the new character being portrayed with the same actor, same name, same title, different personality. Speaking of characters, never have I been introduced to so many characters with back stories that I just didn’t care about. There was an overabundance of side stories and side situations that made my head spin- I could keep up but I just didn’t care. I like strong female characters, but for every strong female character there is generally one weak female character; I am okay with that – this is drama land after all. In HMK for every strong female character there is one weak female, one sick female, and one evil female (there are a lot of characters) clearly out numbering the men, and antagonizing the leads.
The one thing I dislike about most T-dramas is the tendency to go overboard. In MHK, there are accidental deaths, accidental pregnancies, secret births, miraculous healings, business take overs, plotting, a bunch of near death experiences, and heir issues. Way too much drama going on! The story line is polluted with all of the side-drama causing it to be forgettable, but it probably couldn’t stand alone anyway.
The Ugly. This drama is fashioned to initially resemble “Coffee Prince” DO NOT BE DECEIVED! I wrote this review so no more of my drama friends would be caught by this evil trick. This drama is nothing like Coffee Prince. Cheryl looks awful as a tomboy and to be honest I kept looking at her and saying “these people do not see her boobs?!”in disbelief. The costuming department should have been fired, because 80% of the actors looked like they shopped at a thrift store for people bigger than them. The hair/ makeup department should have been fired because not only was Cheryl’s wig an awful mess but too many characters looked old, shiny, or like their hair had never seen conditioner. And i saw Texas hair!! (big poofy kind of hair)
In short unless you love whiny, angry, creepy looking characters in situations where everyone is unknowingly really close, don’t watch this drama. Save yourself some anguish and time and just watch Coffee Shop Prince- or anything else. God Bless the subbers because I would have quit subbing around episode 5.

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Completed
The Imperial Doctress
16 people found this review helpful
Apr 18, 2016
50 of 50 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
Imperial Doctress was a great drama that showed you the hard life a woman had defying the odds in Imperial China. This drama covers nearly 22+ years of happenings in 50 episodes but each episode is totally enjoyable and keeps the watcher engaged and on baited breath. I do not normally watch dramas with more than 50 eps because I get bored easily but this one was perfect. I even had to Wikipedia the historical facts so I could find out how the story turned out!

The Good:
1. The main actors are tremendous! I started watching because I liked Wallace, but in the end I fell in love with Cecilia. They played the main characters perfectly portraying the chemistry and forbidden romantic tension between the emperor and the doctress. Although these actors were awesome, just like in any other drama some of the supporting cast got the side-eye.
2. In a long drama like this it is difficult to tell if days, months or years are passing, I liked that the drama gave hints to the timeline of how much time had passed so we wouldn’t be confused.
3. Overall, the story line was particularly thoughtfully written and didn’t stray too much from the main story of the happenings around the doctress. At every turn she was learning something new, meeting new people and being a total bad a@#.
4. I love a strong female lead character. This drama had one of the strongest female characters I have seen in a long time. Once she learned how to bat an eyelash and flirt a little she was unstoppable!
5. The character development was remarkable and well planned. I was so happy to see so many characters developing and having “life”
The Bad: Well… There isn’t much bad to the drama but in 50 episodes you find stuff wrong.
1. I HATED their lace front wigs, they didn’t match the hair colors for women and above all I saw clothes tags. smh. I couldn’t focus on what some of the characters were saying because of bad lace-mustaches… and don’t get me started on Essen’s drawn on eyebrows!! Hair and makeup should be ashamed, but the costumer was extraordinary.
2. Plot dragging- While the story line was good; there were some plot drags after ep 25 or so. The emperors temper tantrum would last way too long, or the empress’ despicable plotting would go on for way to long and I would be forced to jump ahead.
3. The evil stepmother. There were so many evil stepmother/evil women in this story I was sick of them. These women were overly evil, cunning and had poor excuses. I understand that this is historical based but the evil women in this were almost overwhelming.
Overall- this is worth the time! This has a unique somewhat happy ending but don't get your hopes high. If you like historical dramas with strong female characters, or if you just like strong female leads this one is for you!

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Completed
Yukan Club
16 people found this review helpful
Jul 25, 2011
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
Ok I like Kat-Tun so I thought why not watch Jin in a drama? I am glad I did because I certainly wasn't disappointed. Yukan Club is about a bunch of rich kids who like to solve crimes instead of going to class. Each one of them has a special talent or specialty that helps in solving the mysteries or problems of others. This is a feel good comedy with light romance and light mystery. The characters learn something new each episode but its nothing that is life -changing. Yukan Club isn't a drama that will make you watch it as a marathon, but is a good drama to watch after a drama with really heavy adult themes. Generally you can tell that everything is going to go well for the characters so it doesn't have much suspense, you can almost always tell how its going to end. As a light comedy its fun to watch and it doesn't take itself too seriously either.

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Completed
Code Blue
16 people found this review helpful
Jul 23, 2011
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
Love Yamapi- he is so cool and believable in this roll! Erica and Manami both do well here as well . This drama is about a group of young doctors getting over their handicaps to work their dream job and fly to traumatic scenes on a helicopter. Think ER with helicopters and hot actors. The characters really worked together and the drama really left you wanting another episode; hence the specials and the season 2 offering. This drama isn't for the faint of heart - they use real technical terms show what seems to be real blood/ guts and load you up with the suspense. There is no romance- like 0- but you don't miss it. The drama teaches important stories through its characters, and each one you can relate to (except the girl playing megumi, she wasn't believable). The majority of the cast is made up of veterans that you've seen in dramas and movies before, so that's something else to look forward to.

Enjoy it!

p.s. the sequel is just as good.

p.s.s. love the tsundere yamapi

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Completed
Slow Dance
15 people found this review helpful
Aug 7, 2011
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
I guess the title "Adults who cant express themselves well" was already taken. Lol.

Slow dance is really about a group of adults who are trying to find what they want in their love lives and in life in general. While they can't figure it out for themselves they ask their even more clueless friends, thus creating misunderstandings. I liked the acting all the lead characters were good; however some incidental characters weren't the best actors. I liked how the actors portrayed the confusion and pain of their characters in subtle ways. The script writer was clever and showed the character development/ character realizations clearly. The story was well planned and uncommon; however if you like "love shuffle" you would like this one. Although the progression seems to be slow there aren't many dull moments, I never fast forwarded out of boredom, only because I felt embarrassed for them.

The drama doesn't suck you in and make you want more, but you are totally interested and invested through each episode. Even though Isaki, the female lead can get annoying, I really enjoyed watching this drama .Of course the people I put together initially didn't get together but I still felt the ending was a happy and perfect one.

P.s. there are some really squeal-worthy confessions and proposals

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Completed
Hammer Session!
17 people found this review helpful
Jun 18, 2011
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
Yes it's the same concept as Gokusen, but its way better. Its edgier, its funnier and its got Mokomichi! I really liked this drama because of the exciting plot and situations that unfolded. I also liked how it had a touch of a psychological aspect to it as Otowa (Mokomichi's character) really scammed everyone by getting in their heads. Although the main concept is that this teacher comes in and changes the students and the school by teaching in unconventional ways, this story has so much more. The teacher isn't a teacher but an ex conman on the run, and we don't really know his name. I liked how this drama really let its characters mature and even though the viewer is privy to the inner workings of the con-mans set up you still don't know how things are going to turn out. This isn't a tear jerker but makes you think, laugh and gasp.

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Completed
Wild Romance
14 people found this review helpful
Feb 28, 2012
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
I really didn’t want to like this drama. However somehow the cuteness sucked me in and before I knew it I was totally invested. To me that is a great drama- One that makes you like it and relate to it no matter how different the characters are from you. Essentially this is a great must watch drama.
I can generally see the plot for the whole drama after the first episode or two. I can gather who is going to die and who is the culprit. What I liked about Wild Romance was that I couldn’t tell what was going to happen until the writers gave a hint. Although it is a rom-com there is some really intensive mystery going on, which really kept the plot going and moving. Kudos to the writers for not just relying on the romance to move things along! Although some characters were better played than others I really did like the majority of the characters that were introduced. I felt like the main and supporting characters all had depth that showed as the drama progressed. (I.E. Kim Dong Ho’s role as the Manager). I really fell in love with Lee Si young who played Eun Jae, she was one of those female leads who didn’t change herself for love, she found love just the way she was. I totally loved how really vulnerable she was the whole way through the drama, and how naturally Si Young seemed to play up that aspect.
The main reason I didn’t want to watch Wild Romance was because I was positive the Eun Jae character was going to be all talk. (I was wrong) Next I was sure the Park Moo Yul character would come to love her after some kind of see her naked scene, or she would save a loved one. (I was happily wrong as well) Lastly I didn’t want to watch because I started to feel really embarrassed for Eun Jae, and the more I felt bad for her (ep 4-5) the less I watched. I pushed through it and found it more enjoyable than I thought. Now I will admit to fast forwarding through long looks at each other, some baseball talk (though I learned a lot!) and some of the “searching” scenes. There were a lot of “searching” scenes.
Overall I am glad I watched this one all the way through. I like to see a character who feels like they don’t deserve love, win it on their own terms. That’s what happened with our Eun Jae, and that should give inspiration to many a girls who try to change themselves. Although there wasn’t much eye candy, there were a few bare chested men throughout so I am okay. I hope those who have put this down pick it back up because it certainly gets sweeter, better, and the ending is not what you think!

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Completed
Strongest Chil Woo
14 people found this review helpful
Jun 23, 2011
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
With a similar concept as Iljimae, Strongest Chil Woo is action drama that takes place in the 1600s. The drama has a lot of really cool fighting scenes and the 3-17 episodes have a lot of story packed into them. I liked Iljimae better, but this drama was still pretty good. Although the description said its like a Korean Zorro, it really isn't. The drama was more like a robin hood meets three musketeers with different costumes and specialties, than a zorro. I really liked the cast except for Koo Hye Sun's character, which I fast forwarded through all of her parts. I don't know what happened with the writing of her character, but I couldn't even stand to see her parts. Its unusual to hate the female lead but she was so annoying! Anyway, there's a really happy ending, really positive themes, and a few cute guys, so you should check it out. It doesn't drag as much as other period dramas and you can always fast forward through the long meaningful glances.

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