herc-u-luis

I don't think it's just action and violence, the emotional aspects are there, but in a story like this, which, well isn't really a rom-com thriller or whatnot, where the villain are ruthless terrorists, focusing more on emotions just does disservice to the theme itself. He is an ace agent in a gruesome storyline, he isn't supposed to show emotions like they are on display in a fair. And this show shows death by killing (by horrible criminals) the way it actually is, gruesome, painful to watch. It doesn't romanticize death scenes, which many Korean shows, even some thriller shows does. Some shows show death scenes in vanilla fashion.
However, I do agree that Namgoong's movement, especially leg movement was quite impaired due to heavy muscle building. I think the physic/fitness coach need to focus on the actor's flexibility too. And cute actress doesn't go with muscled actor, that's just focusing too much on visual compatibility, which is extremely driven by bias in kdrama-lovers/watchers. I would rather like to see how they act together and how the storyline connects their path.
And you don't have to be sorry about liking emotions more than action and or violence, it's just personal preference, just like for those who like actions and brutal violence more then open display of emotions in crime shows.

Ep 2 ending car scene looked and felt so good because of the OST, it just synchronized perfectly to the scene. I was like, wow.

I am really thrilled to Finally seeing Ahn Bo Hyun as the Main Male Lead in a drama. I've always thought he will be a good Male Lead if given the opportunity. Especially in intense action roles, with his looks and everything. He surprisingly fits this role pretty well too, with his goatee and Long hair, as the trailer showed.
It seems this year and 2022 belongs to Ahn Bo Hyun with so many dramas as the Male lead. I'm honestly really happy for him.

Yeah, they are gonna start production somewhere around october this year, so we can expect to see them on television in early 2022.

Eagerly Waiting for Season 2, as it has been confirmed finally.

You know, there are many many shows that I didn't like, in the sense they were boring, too slow, too fast, too many plot-holes, unbelievable story etc etc. The number is pretty huge. However, the number of shows that I absolutely HATED with all my gut, is relatively very small. This one is currently topping that list.
The only thing that I liked about the show, after finishing it completely, is those narrations/commentary at the end, or sometimes the middle, done by the Female Lead where she talks about things in a deep thoughtful way. I mean, out of nowhere they became a couple from love-hate situation, out of nowhere they broke up for like what? cause his younger brotherlike guy also liked the girl?? I mean, is it like those 2010/2013 kdrama days where this kind of sacrificial voo do slapdash plot is romanticized? Then they got back together again, then writer had to put the girl's father into the storyline in such a way that made them think, "Ah, I guess we aren't completely out of material yet, we can still squeeze out ounces of juice". Then they break up, she went there, he remained there, 3 years passed. Everything kept happening in lightning speed. And not to talk about the side characters. The ending was, well, I mean, BAD, like really bad. The writing and pacing of the show was, simply put, Abysmal.

The CGI could obviously been better.

So, here is the thing. If after reading this review if anybody is wondering, why does this drama has such high ratings? The answer to that is, simple: "The popularity of the cast", also, on the side, "Pretty Filters making everyone look way too pretty". No other reason. Music? Well, if you watch an entire drama for the music itself, I would say, Get a Life.
Everybody on the K-drama fan-sites be like: "Oh my god, I've been waiting for these two to pair up together for so long, oh my god, I'm crying, I'm shaking!!!!! So what do I do now, after watching a few episodes, or maybe just watching one, I'm gonna give them 10/10 in everything, and will never update the review even if the show becomes garbage in the middle, I mean, why would I? I love the CAST, I mean, wow, these two TOGETHER!!!! I'm Crying, I'm shaking.........."
Btw, in another universe, the storyline was crying itself to it's doom, but nobody gave a shit.

Well, he didn't need to, the writers did the job for him lmao.

I agree. I just mentioned them to basically show that even if those super popular stars did very mediocre acting (Which in my opinion they do in quite a few dramas) in this drama, the ratings would have crossed the sky through their star power alone. People would be like ," I love how fluffy this show is, I watch all the shows Park Shin Hye is in, Their chemistry is insane, I've waiting for these two to be in a drama together, so, oh my god, I am crying.......", all while really forgetting whether the acting was upto mark in regards to the actual storyline, hell, some won't even give a dam about storyline, they would be like " The visuals of this drama is off the charts, she looks gorgeous, he looks too handsome" etc etc. If anybody has actually seen "Doom at your service" and really checked it's storyline, whether it makes sense or not, look at it objectively. And then really try to justify the insane overall rating of 8.6, which was around 8.8 a while ago. That show just got such high rating through star power. Whereas this one is struggling to get a proper rating because not having that big star power. Yes, based on the acting, this cast is actually great. They Really, Really played their part extremely well.

Can someone confirm whether episode 6 has released yet or not?

God bless her soul.

Happy to have helped.

Ok then, here is the link: https://kissanime.city/watch/aoi-bungaku.b4c5/36d107f/ Now, in the first few minutes a guy narrates in introduction of the story ahead, after that it's pure animation.

I just hope people give the ratings after the drama has finished or close to being finished. God knows how many shows have royally disappointed us even with pre-inflated ratings before the show even had gone halfway

I certainly hope so. He needs to get another serious hit show (not just commercial success, but something that can be critically acclaimed as a great show) like healer to really propel his career in diverse directions. While I do enjoy his Rom-com shows enough to watch them, over time, people are gonna get bored of him. Nowadays, K-dramas have stepped up the game, making shows that to a significant extent rival US and UK tv series in terms of story and acting. Even Rom-com genre has been evolving. He needs to be part of a really Great show sometime soon I suppose. Looks, he got it. Acting, he got it. Popular Female leads, well, they are willing to act with him. Now he needs a great script, and good show-makers who are really thinking about making a great show.

The name of the anime is "No Longer Human" or "Aoi Bungaku" in Japanese. The character Dazai in Bongou stray dogs was actually based on Dazai Osamu, the writer of the novel "No longer Human". Dazai Osamu in real life attempted suicide several times, that's why in Bugou stray dogs you see Dazai osamu talking about suicides and attempting them in funny manner. I could give you a link, but I don't know whether link sharing here is okay or not for the moderators.

Hmm, I wouldn't go so far as to say that agency doesn't matter when you reach stardom. Big actors sometimes become independent at some point cause they have limitations while working in the agency while taking a role that might not benefit the agency, at the end of the day it's a business and even though you might get some leeway for being a star in that agency, you are still contract bound which you will have to obey somewhat religiously if you want to stay in the agency. Plus, you are always aging while new talents will always join the agency, and you never know when the agency will push a new face to be the new poster-boy of the agency. It's not as simple as milking a pre-established image and past establishments while taking roles independently without caring much whether it will benefit the agency or not. Going independent is not really an option for every actors, not all of them have enough money and time to actually do all those things that an agency offers to do for them. And interviews are hardly ever "not scripted" to never give the impression that the agency is influencing the choice of an actors dramas/films as it can affect the agency's reputation. Hardly any actors will say anything like that, cause, at the end of the day, when actors mess up or get into any controversy the agency handles it and protect them. Whistle-blowing will definitely put the actor into the blacklist, good luck getting into another one. So, we can't ever get the full picture from the interviews.

Either way, his choice/the agency's influenced choice has not been spot on for some time. I don't know whether backstreet rookie was any experiment from JCW's point of view, as it really didn't require any extraordinary acting skills, neither was the storyline something memorable. The cast other than JCW, rather the female lead is very popular, a solid reason It was guaranteed that people would watch it. It was somewhat funny, and not the good kind of crazy. At least majority of people thought so, I would assume from the reviews.

Lovestruck in the city can be considered an experiment, sadly it didn't pay off if he was looking forward being in a great drama, although, obviously commercially successful. His acting was decent, storyline was, well, not very convincing. Female lead was popular, like the male lead, so obviously was a guaranteed commercial hit.

Suspicious Partner was relatively good for it's own genre. The suspense was there, the role of the villain was actually decent.

K2, well, it seemed way too unrealistic to me, for a serious political action thriller. Even in a fiction, there are some level of practicality to be maintained imo. That's one of the reasons I didn't really like vagabond either, the storyline was too unrealistic to watch over 16 episodes, a movie of 2 hours should be fine. Although Vagabond did really well with the action scenes, it was difficult to take this one seriously after the death of the male lead's nephew. Honestly, After a few episodes it was pretty easy to guess that Ed Park was a villain. Although, I think, If someone is not really much interested in the integrity and progression of the storyline and the many plotholes, both of these two drama are actually fun to watch as action dramas. Although, I didn't really like yoona's acting.

Melting me softly, after a few episodes I dropped it. Just couldn't go on with the drama, it was difficult.

As far as BR and LITC goes, they started out well, with a promise to be different, but landed flat in the middle, in BR's case it happened even earlier. I don't really think It's JCW's fault, the creators, writers and directors kept coming with problematic twists and incidents that really kills the initial vibe and promise. That's why I think maybe the agency isn't doing right by JCW. A lot of the times actors don't have much choice when it comes to choosing a drama, if the agency don't really try to create a different and refreshing image of the actors by either allowing or bringing different and better offers to them.. JCW has kinda established himself as a rom-com actor, and all the drama offers he is getting are of that genre. His military enlistments and controversies may also have played a role for him not getting different roles, maybe the agency and drama makers didn't feel confident about it or something.

However I do agree that for a drama like Lovestruck in the city, even it's executed properly by the writers, directors and actors, in the kdrama world, It can easily be just a matter of Complete Hit or Complete Miss.

I agree, After Healer all the shows that he has been has been subpar. There are things at play behind the background, maybe he needs to be part of a better agency.
So many kdramas depend on basically starpower, he has been using it, and it's working out well, in terms of commercial success. However, the shows aren't really that good, a lot of the time disappointing. Like a popcorn, you eat it and forget it, there is not much to remember. In 2017, he went to military, and maybe there weren't many opportunities for him after he came, so he is playing general rom-com. Although, Lovestruck in the City was a bit different, still, it really didn't make the cut imo. I had better hopes as the director was one of the two directors of It's okay to not be okay.
Hopefully, in the near future, he gets the opportunities to play much better roles.