marguerite blakeney

It has more story than the anime

Cast/Acting:
I think they picked the right cast. Honda tsubasa really fits the role of Futaba in my opinion.
In the manga Kou was fighting for Futabas love more than they did in the live action, but I think the actor did still play a good role.


Story:
I have collected and read all thr manga and I think the live action does follow it most of the time, but some scenes they took from the manga and changed a bit, so that it would all make sense.
Considering they (only) had about 2hrs of screentime I think the story prgressed well...


Music:
For me the Anime/Movie OST is one of the most important things about a movie and I think the ost was pretty good


Overall:
I think the live action is good, cause it has more of the manga in it. The anime sadly only consists of the 1st 3 volumes of the manga. I collected all the volumes and know that the whole plot comes in kinda later on. I think it's a great story, but the anime itself is dry. I really like the live action though.

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Dropped before I even finished it

Acting/Cast
So yeah the only main reason why I watched this is, because of Hinako Sakurai. I loved the role she played in Marmalade Boy Live Action and coinsidentally, the male lead of that movie is called Yuu. But back to this movie...
I've seen Sho Hirano in Honey live action.

Story/Overall
So since I've only watched about 50min. of this movie, I don't know how it ends. But I'm guessing it will have a happy ending, since it's based on a shoujo manga.
Yuu (Hinako Sakurai) I find so annoiying and clueless. She lets Rin (Sho Hirano) tell her that she's trash and let him bully her cause she thinks he's helping her or something. Also she does like him and he likes her, but let me tell you...There's a HUGE difference between "teasing" & "bullying". And he is definitely bullying her.
Overall the first 50min. That I have watched were definitely very cringey. And if "cringey" were a movie genre, I would put it under that category instead of comedy.
It was really cringey when it showed memories of them as children and they just took the older actor and actress and made there heads big.
His fantasies are kinda entertaining though.

I would not recommend this movie unless you have NOTHING else to do.

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cute main couple and good visuals

I'll keep this brief.

Overall at first glance this feels like a typical highschool-college young love drama which I kept comparing to our secret or a love so beautiful at first, but I think the visuals for the main couple are great.

The premise is slightly different than they usually are in these dramas and it was pretty refreshing.. for the MOST part..

of course even this drama can't escape some of the usual side plots and side characters. the second couple were okay to watch but still complicated..

this is mostly a friendship drama till about ep 18 or 19 I think when they get into college and I gotta admit that I was getting a little tired of waiting for them to get together around ep 15,so the pacing felt a bit slow at times, but overall I think the pacing was good.

there's some conflicts between our main couple, but at least they don't last long.

I felt kinda bad the sml even though I didn't ship him with lin xi..

acting wise I think the acting was good enough and I did feel the actors had chemistry together. I look forward to seeing the ML actor again.

the music was okay. but nothing I'd listen to on repeat so just average for this drama, but it fits.

the best part of this drama is a HAPPY ENDING!!

apart from some scenes I didn't care too much about i really like this couple!! they're so cute together!!

*the parents in this drama are so nice (compared to zhu yuns mom in lighter and princess sheesh)

(also i some how managed to cry during this drama)

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TAKE MY ADVICE: check out some form of the original story before you watch this!!!

In this review I'll be talking about my most anticipated movie this year. Like, I've been waiting for this thing for more than a year. Was it worth the wait? Did I expect too much? Was it adapted well?

I'll be answering all these questions in this review of My Happy Marriage 2023

(if you want to watch it, it's available on myasiantv)


So first I want to start off by saying:

READ THE LIGHT NOVEL/MANGA or WATCH THE ANIME

before you watch this movie, otherwise you'll be quite confused.


So, I get it. They had to squeeze A LOT into a 2h long movie. BUT STILL. So many things weren't explained! To the point where my knowledge of the original story came in handy more than a few times. They left out some important plot points and I think some were a bit rushed.


Spoilers Ahead:

FIRST IMPRESSION:

So I heard about this story through the manga first. Then I found out they would be making a live action and anime and seeing how I enjoyed the first 3 volumes of the manga, I was really looking forward to it. Another reason being, I love period romance movies! And was really looking forward to a Japanese one, since there aren't that many (that interest me). I'm not such a fan of (dark) fantasy, but it's okay in moderation.

Come 17th of March. The day this movie releases in Japan, I was really excited. Until I learned that I would have to wait a few more months for the international release!

This summer the anime aired, so I started watching it.

After finishing the anime, I admit I was a bit disappointed with where the story went. I am looking forward to the second season! I hope there will be more romantic scenes. I think the anime delivered some nice scenes with the couple, but not enough. I was disappointed there wasn't even one kiss scene! Even though I don't think their relationship got that far in the 1st Season.

I do like the cinderella aspect of this story.


LIVE ACTION STORY:
The beginning of the movie doesn't show a lot of Miyo's life at her family's Estate. In fact they rush over it a bit and very soon she's already sent to the Kudo household. But they don't really explain much! If I hadn't known the story beforehand, I would be quite confused. Oh well, then we have the official meeting scene for our couple! I liked this scene.

I feel like a lot of screen time goes to the fantasy aspect. I liked the scenes between Kiyoka and Miyo though, but I wish there were more. They did skip some of my favourite scenes from the manga!

The story feels a bit rushed at times and like I said before, doesn't make sense without knowing the story.

They left out the Kiyoka-Sister Arc! I wish they would have kept it. And because they left it out, the Usuba Arc also seems rushed. They didn't explain the mother's backstory either.

another thing: When Miyo meets her sister in town and doesn't dare to stand up to her, she gets very depressed and stays in her room alone for a few days in the manga/anime, but in this movie it doesn't really show much of that. Then she meets hana again and again the scene in the manga made the most sense! They rushed this in the live action.

I know that screenplay works differently, but I wish they would've adapted it better.

The ending of the movie with the demonic possession outbreak and all was a bit cringey, also that wasn't explained so well.

ACTING/CAST:
Meguro Ren does look good in kimono and with white hair :) He's also nice and tall (comapred to the other actors hehe)
And I think the actress portrayed Miyo very well. I've only seen Watanabe Keisuke in a few good roles, otherwise he usually acts as bad guys lol, but I think he suits the role and there were a few moments my heart skipped a beat cause of him (though I hate to admit lol)
I always picture Yurie as a nice OLD woman, that's how she's portrayed in the manga/anime. I would've preferred another actress.


MUSIC:
some of the music felt a bit overdramatic at times, but I think it was fine. There weren't very many great OSTs, but it's still fits for the most part. I did like the violin OST.


OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Was it worth the wait? Did I expect too much? Was it adapted well?

Even though it wasn't what I initially expected it to be, I did enjoy it for what it was. Despite some bad points I mentioned, it does have it's good ones. Cinematography for instance was good and the colouring is nice as well. Like mentioned before, I like the setting.

Not only with the live action, but the anime and story as a whole, wasn't how I expected it. Like I said I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in Season 2 of the anime. Based in the end credits scene of this movie, I'm guessing there will be a sequel?? I hope so.

Some scenes where done well. The CGI was relatively good. Although the story wasn't as clear as the original work, I think some scenes were good.

overall I'll give this movie an 8/10 (which is good, but not amazing)

8/10 is quite high for me.

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Overall it's a nice found-family drama..

Something I appreciate about japanese dramas like this one, is the focus on found family or just family themes.

I binged this drama in one night. The music is good and is fitting. The cast is good. Risa's brother was sleezy and looked lifeless at times, it would've been nice to have seen more of Risa's backstory, to explain their sibling relationship more. Her brother will annoy you whenever he's on screen, but I was also thinking that no matter what he is still her brother, I guess maybe she pitied him in the end.

The main focus of this story was on Maria (Kengo's sister). I liked her bittersweet youthful romance with Ryota.

Now, this drama does say it's a romance, so does it live up to it?

The actors playing Kengo and Risa have a good chemistry. I only wish they had had more sweet scenes together. Like the scene where he teaches her to ride a bike. Just more scenes to make me really believe that they are meant for each other. The show ended up focusing more on building their emotional intimacy. The ending is happy. (Their romance felt more realistic and so did this drama in general)

This drama left more to be desired in the romance aspect, but I'm glad we got some scenes of them together.

The doctor character is played by the actor who plays sojiro in hana yori dango, so I just called him sojiro in this drama too haha.

I saw a comment on mydramalist asking if it really matters what her job was, or if it was just a plot device?

The ending was a bit rushed with the one year time skip and all.. jdramas typically are shorter than kdramas with 45 min episodes, for this drama I wouldn't have minded seeing 10 one hour episodes though.

Overall it was pretty good. I just watched it today so I'll let my feelings towards it marinate more.

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They should've casted a better actor as the ML and a better wig too..

I really recommend this drama to anyone who loves sageuk dramas!
there's action, revenge, romance, hidden identity and overall a great plot that doesn't drag at all.
this has become one of my all time favourites.

It's long, however the 108 episodes are only 30 minutes long, so there are 54 normal 1h long episodes. it's still long but significantly shorter than 108 episodes. (Apparently this was actually scheduled to have 120 episodes, but was shortened. Considering how much I love this drama I probably would've liked to see what they would've put into those other episodes.)
I binged the whole thing in 11 days.

Music:
the OST is really good, however you can't find the whole soundtrack T_T

as for the romance:
- Myongnong and Solnan are the cutest couple! it's sweet seeing two people fall in love for the first time. There love is really innocent and sweet. there is some angst towards the end, but in it you can see how much they're in love.
- Jinmu and Solhee as bad as they are, were good for eachother, and I did like some of their scenes.
- The first 10 episodes are about the parents arc and how they fell in love and everything. I was invested in their story as well.
- then there's also a 4th couple with the guy from the princess' man and a friend of Solnan's and they were nice as well.

Characters:
- solhee is the absolute worst! sometimes I felt sorry for her, but she brought everything upon yourself and is pretty narcissistic! she was always a rotten apple, however I did like how things ended for her.
- Jinmu was pretty sleezy and was one of the villains, however I kind of liked his character in the end=his character development
- The Queen was super sweet. finally not one of those scheming queens!
- chancellor yon who was a villain, had some kinda cute moments with his folding origami or his weird/funny sounds he makes.
- I like that the characters are well written and have motives etc.

Acting was really great! I was impressed by all the crying in this drama because it felt so natural but also sad during the dramatic/death scenes.

The ending was happy for me (both couples) it's maybe a bit open, however at least you know they ended up together.

the last scene of the drama where the subaekhyang tree flowers and the blossoms are floating around was nicely made.

This was such a wild ride! so much happened in these episodes despite them being shorter than usual.

History:
some of the characters did actually exist. It's debatable whether princess subaekhyang actually existed or not.

Overall I'll give it a 10/10 and I really recommend it!

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The ML and OSTs are the best part of the drama

(edited: original rating 8)

I finished the whole drama pretty quickly about a month ago and must admit, I still don't really know how to rate it (I'm stuck between 6-8). I'll try giving an honest and "short" review:

First Impression:
I discovered this drama in a FMV and didn't have many expectations, except that I read a bunch of good reviews, so I was hoping it would live up to them.
This drama is almost 20 years old (and even though I generally watch older movies, it really shows with asian dramas) and some effects and especially the intro video are kinda cringey, but you get used to them. Also I feel like the intro makes you feel like this drama is going to be a sassy lighthearted rom com, but that wasn't the case. At least not after ep 5 or 6 of the drama (only occasionally)
After completing this drama, I feel like it should be called "deceitful girl Choon Hyang" instead lol..

Story:
So this is based on an old Korean folk tale and I have skipped through Chunhyang (2000) and this drama follows the basic premise, only it adds a lot of annoying plot points. I won't spoil too much, but this drama has a very annoying love square and the sml and sfl are determined to follow the phrase "if I can't have you no one can!", because when the main couple finally decide to get married for real, you know that those two will get up to something. Also I thought they would make a good couple (sml+sfl) lol.

Not to forget that the SML meets Chunhyang when she's still in high school (and stays till the very end of the drama uchh)
and he looks like he's 30, so that's "a bit" questionable and he also seems to have a lot of free time despite being the chairman of an entertainment company and follows (stalks) her around a lot. He also just can't take no for an answer and doesn't really care about her feelings. All that to say, I hope I never come across a guy like him. Also..How much power does an entertainment company have for him to be able to frame the ML?? (idk how it works, but I'm guessing a lot)

Now onto the SFL she's really annoying up till ep 14 or 15, when she's trying to get between the main couple. Also the SFL is the ML's first crush and she rejects him in the beginning, but then when she finds out he's married she's suddenly all over him. But at least the SFL kinda redeemed herself in the end, when she got engaged herself and forgot about the ML, she even came to the main couple's actual wedding.

Marriage Plotline:
This kind of plot has been a bit overused and I think that it makes people take marriage/divorce pretty lightly.
But was nice seeing these two slowly fall for each other.

Main Couple:
After their marriage, the FL seems to fall first, but she doesn't tell the ML her feelings, because he likes the SFL at that point.
And so our couple break up, only to eventually get back together after the ML realises, he's loved her all along and after the stupid schemes of the SM/FL and they decide to get married for real BUT then the SML shows up as always and tries to "destroy" the ML's life and threatens the FL so she will have no choice but to go to the SML. So she pretends that she never loved the ML and leaves for Japan after getting forcefully engaged to the SML.

[INSERT 3 YEAR TIME SKIP]

ML is now working as a prosecutor and you can find out yourself what happens in the last few eps. happy ending, thank goodness!

OST/Music:
I liked most of the songs in this drama. Especially "emergency room" and "sarang hae yo" and a few others. They make this drama feel nostalgic for me.

Conclusion:
I'm not happy with how the SML got off the hook for everything he did in the end, but I am glad that he finally let the couple be together in the end.
This drama especially in it's later episodes gave me headaches. I guess I was pretty invested in the story, because I wanted to finally see the couple together!!
the FL kinda annoyed me in the 2nd half. I know she felt she couldn't go against the SML if she didn't want to see the ML hurt, but still..
I wish the couple would've had more sweet scenes together among all the sad ones.
Also..Where the heckos did the FL's mom ever disappear to in the last episodes?? I feel like they never mentioned her after that.
The FL's friend is annoying I gotta say, but Ji Hyuk is a good friend to mong ryong.

Rewatch Value:
I've edited this drama (into FMVs) so I have to rewatch a lot of it and there are a few scenes, I like rewatching.

Overall I'm not sure what to rate this drama.
Because of the ML being likeable I would give it an 8/10
but storywise more: 7-7.5/10

Would I recommend this drama?
I'd say it's not a terrible drama and I did like the ending, although I still wish their wedding was a bit longer. Also this follows the "add a random conflict to the last 15 mins of the drama" plot, so their wedding is very short and mixes scenes from their past lives into it.
If you like the ML actor I would watch it.
Maybe you'll be someone who loves this drama, because it has it's good points.
Just come prepared to get stressed out over this drama.

[also this drama made me get into the habit of saying aigoo too much lol]

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sweet love story and touching drama

Sooo..I thought I should add another review to this drama. I'll try my best to make it spoiler free!

So first I want to start off by saying that the part in the summary ( While on vacation with his girlfriend, Gu Yihang(Liu Enyou) hires He Tongyao(Jin Sha) as their tour guide, inadvertantly causing her to get in a car accident.) saying that they hire her as a tour guide, isn't in the drama as far as I remember.
I loved this drama, but the Japanese drama made me cry more. I think mostly because it's based on a real person and the Jdrama follows her story closer than this drama (other than adding a ML).

On to my review:

- This drama is loosely based off of 1 liter of tears (diary of aya kito) and the Japanese drama from 2005. I've seen the J-drama before this and I would recommend watching! This drama does follow most of the original story, but there are many plot points that aren't in the Jdrama.

Acting/Cast: I think all the cast did a great job. The mom did annoy me a bit in the beginning of the drama, but otherwise I also like the mother-daughter relationship in this drama and think the actors did a good job, because they really look like mother and daughter. I like the ML actor a lot and think the main couple look good together.

Music: I like the music, though it wasn't anything amazing, but then again I think it fit this drama perfectly!
But one thing that annoyed me and maybe it's just the file I watched, but the music is oddly placed. Sometimes even two songs are playing at once or there are two tracks of the same song, but one is a bit off sync. Luckily in the last few episodes this wasn't the case.

Re-watch value: This was sad, but it didn't make me cry as much as the Jdrama. maybe also because it's longer. But there are definitely scenes between the main couple that I'll watch again.

Story/Overall rating: Overall I give the story a 10/10.
Although there were many changes made I still enjoyed this drama, even though I knew how it would end. The Fl and ML get together towards the middle of the drama and their love story is so cute.
This is a sad but inspiring drama, mainly because tong yao keeps fighting until the end.

Ending: I won't spoil too much, but I'll say that the ending is open. If you've read the book or seen the Jdrama then you'll know how it ends. But they didn't show her death in this drama, in fact it ends with a photo of her pregnant and then a voice over of the ML and their child speaking.

Lastly: This drama should definitely be watched by a much larger audience then it appears to have. If you can't find it then you can look on myasiantv, kissasian or drama cool. BUT I CAN'T FIND EP 24, 26,27,28 SUBBED.

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My favourite version of Itazura na Kiss!!

So I decided to watch this to see how much they've changed and stuff compared to other versions. I have seen and love the love in tokyo versions and the anime. I've also seen the newer Japanese movies, but the acting just wasn't natural in them. (Also part of the 1996 version). But in this version the acting is very natural and our main couple have great chemistry! They feel like a real couple, i just love them!
Since this is an older drama, the quality isn't the best on dramacool, but you can watch on youtube, because some of the eps aren't complete.
I've only seen 17 eps and am almost finished.
I wasn't expecting too much getting into this drama, but after 1 episode i changed my mind haha.

Overall the romance is nice. The thing that they lack in every version is bad communication especially in the beginning of their marriage, but that's just how the story goes. I liked the cast for the characters, although I prefer the Japanese version of Christine and some of the other side characters. I like the actor for a'Bu (hes hawt).
The music is average, but it wasn't bad and was kinda memerable.

I just loved this drama!

(Also I have burning hate for the kamogari keita dude in EVERY version! In this version he's qi tai)

Edit: I finished watching and loved it! The ending was left kinda open because the manga isn't complete but I believe like in other versions that they had a daughter.
(Also ariel lin in this kinda reminds me of mao inoue in hana yori dango)

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So I figured I should write a review for this, since no one else has. This is the first Japanese movie from the 1900's that I've seen.
First of all this movie is based on the novel by Natsume Soseki. I have read the novel and some things have changed, but they surprisingly adapted it in to a live action film quite well. In the Book basically all the characters are nameless, but they added names for the movie. The book has 3 "sections": Sensei and I, My Parents and I and Sensei's testament. The movie adapted this quite well, but in the movie it showed Sensei's past through out the movie. I remember that in the book, the main guy referred to as "I" in the novel recieves Sensei's letter saying that when he recieves the letter Sensei will already be dead. "I" reads the letter and that's what "sensei's testament" is about. "I" reading the letter and then it goes back in time to when sensei was in college and how he met his wife. Also his friend "k". Sensei feels responsible for "K" comitting suicide. And he carries that guilt all the way till he dies.

It's an interesting take on human psychology I think.

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Watch it and rate it for yourself

So I want to make this a shorter review to avoid spoiling too much.

Honestly I think I've gotten this recommended to me many times, way before I started watching it. There are a lot of mixed reviews on this drama. A lot of them bad and some also good. I finally decided to check this drama out for myself and then decide if I enjoyed it or not. To be honest I wasn't expecting much, because of the reviews. This is based on the Josei manga by Maki Enjoji (same author as koi wa tsuzuku doko made mo) I haven't read the manga yet so I have nothing to compare it to.

4 episodes in I thought it was pretty good. Even on the first episode. I may just be a helpless romantic and just enjoyed the romantic scenes without paying attention to the actual story, but I wouldn't have finished this if the plot sucked. It's a contract-marriage drama, there are a lot of them. Overall I really enjoyed this drama. Reason for only giving it a 9/10 is because this drama isn't perfect. Originally I was going to give this a 8/10 (while watching it) but I seemed to have enjoyed it more than I thought when I actually finished it. I really like the cast. The ML is handsome. I like the ending song. That's all!

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I gave this a 7/10.

First of all this is a live action drama based on the anime/manga of the same name. I've seen a few episodes of the anime and definitely do think that they adapted it well. The cast fit well. The acting wasn't that bad. And the music was also sweet. The reason I rated this a 7/10 is because it wasn't the best movie out there, but it was sweet. The basic story is that Takeo thinks that Rinko/Yamato likes his best friend, but she actually likes him. So the whole movie he's trying to help her get with his friend, but she thinks that he doesn't like her and he finally realizes it in the end.

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*Story*
I love the story. It's an interesting concept which I haven't really seen before. Of a girl getting smaller (in live action movies) and I always wonder how they filmed it. But well computers I guess. Anyways The story was sweet. And I overall love it. It's a Rom-Com. But it's not really cringy like some other Jdramas like this that I have seen. I did almost die fron laughing when they kissed in the hospital and then the moms and grandmother walked in on them. There is also some conflict, which I think is quite important in stories like this.
I haven't read the manga which is from the 80's, but I might read it soon.

*Acting/Cast*
The reason I gave this an 8.0 is because at first Taishi Nakagawa was a bit tense. Atleast I thought so. But towards the end of the series I feel like he definitely loosend up a lot and really fit the role. As for the actress who acted as Chiyomi. I thought she really fit the role. I've seen her in "Daytime Shooting Star" and "I'm underage but I'm not a child". But I enjoyed her role as Chiyomi the best. Overall the acting was quite good.

*Music*
I really like the Piano OST/Music in this drama. As well as the opening theme, which I think is quite a cute and creating opening. So I enjoyed the music.

*Rewatch Value*
I'd definitely rewatch this over and over.

*Overall*
I love this series so much. If you're in to Romantic Comedy than this is perfect for you.

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Short and sweet!

*Story*
The Story was sweet and cute. If you like really fluffy Romance Drama with no Conflict or anything. Than Shanai Marriage Honey is a perfect drama. There are only 7 episodes (25min.) So I would say it's worth it to check it out.
I liked the living together story and also that they got married, while not even knowing eachother was quite interesting.
But I would've enjoyed it more if it had more conflict. There is a second male lead, but he never really does anything. And the way that The Main male lead just suddenly revealed his reasons for getting married so soon was kinda rushed and I thought there were deeper reasons behind it. Also I thought there were more things going on with his mom.
Since it's a short drama. There romantic Relationship already began on the 2 episode.

I think if it had more conflict it would definitely be more interesting. But it was sweet and fluffy.

*Acting*
The Main Male lead had nice eyes (^w^) and overall the acting was quite good. The Main Female lead also fit the role great and overall I enjoyed it.

*Music*
I liked the theme song and the music fit the theme very well.

*Rewatch Value*
I think watching it once was enough.


*edit*
Now that I rethink about this drama I'll give it a 6/10. It just didn't have much of a plot. Most marriage dramas at least have a love triangle or something, but this didn't have much. But then again if you like a lot of fast paced romance than it's perfect for you.

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