I came into this drama expecting nothing at all since I was fairly bored and the first few episodes totally blew my mind. The drama started off with a clear message to the viewers: Dan Oh, a girl who is trapped in a manga world tries to break free and keep herself alive from the unfairness and absurdness of the cruel world while trying to find the meaning behind her life.

However, it started going downhill and the message of the drama started to disappear too. Dan Oh went from trying to change her life to saying " Haru!!" during every single scene she was in, it was cute at the beginning but gets extremely repetitive quickly. At first, the introduction of the character Haru was seemingly interesting for me. Who is he? What is his relation to Dan Oh? Why is he the only one who can change the story? As the drama progresses, we got to know the answer behind the first two of these questions and found out that they were lovers in the previous drama, as for the latter... we still don't know. It seemed as if Haru life revolved only around Dan Oh, we really never got to see him really do anything besides think about Dan Oh, nor do we know what his hobbies are (other than saving Dan Oh). His character became utterly boring and one-dimensional to me. The second male lead: Baek Kyung was just an annoying jerk throughout the series and the writers only redeemed him in the second last episode. Second last episode! All through episode 1 to 14, his only role was to get annoyed at Dan Oh and Haru, shout at everyone and slam the locker. The love triangle was so draggy cause we all know that Dan Oh likes Haru and Baek Kyung was clearly not in the picture. Instead of spending episodes with repetitive scenes such as: Dan Oh & Haru cute moments together with Baek Kyung watching from afar with an annoyed expression, the stage happens and Haru gets jealous seeing Dan Oh with Baek Kyung, the stage ends and DanHaru leaves together but then stops on their tracks because Kyung mentioned something about how "Eun Dan Oh is my fiance!!!" and then cue the amnesia storyline but make it happen twice. The writers could have focused on answering important questions such as: How did this manga world happen? Who is the writer? How did Kyung's brother become self-aware and what is his role? Are all the characters going to be stuck in this loophole forever? What's the weird portal? Why is the comic book stored in the library where everyone could easily find it? Meanwhile, you have another love triangle (yes another one) between Do Hwa, Joo Da, and Nam Joo. Do Hwa is literally the only likable character in this series and shadow Joo Da is just really badass and together they would make a great couple right? Wrong. Joo Da chooses Nam Joo, a character who is only there to calls her "my woman" at every opportunity he gets and because if she leaves him, he won't have anyone to care about him.


The acting was incredible. I was skeptical of Rowoon's acting at first since I've never watched him in a drama before but his acting really amazed me. The rest of the cast's acting was brilliant too.

The OST was good too.

Overall, if you can overlook all the plotholes and the annoying repetitive scenes and the cliches then this drama is for you.

Read More

A waste of time

Nevertheless is a K-Drama adopted from a webtoon with the same name. Before watching the kdrama, I have already read and finished the webtoon.

*SPOILERS FROM THE WEBTOON*

In the webtoon, the story was straightforward because we know that PJE is just playing with Nabi. Nabi knew this NEVERTHELESS she still wants him. However, PJE continued being a player and Nabi ended up with Dohyuk, who had more depth in the webtoon.

Now that we have gotten the overall storyline from the webtoon, lets talk about the drama. I came into this knowing that the writers would definitely change up some parts because we know that kdramas doesn't like to be faithful to its webtoon counterpart (True Beauty). My expectations were not met at all. This drama is just 10 episodes of repetitiveness and back and forth from the main leads whereas the background stories were definitely more compelling. I will be analyzing the main leads only for this review since some of the characters weren't in the webtoon.

1. Park Jae Eon: In the webtoon, he is your charming playboy who can't commit to a single girl. He tried to but his efforts were diminished by Nabi when she told his gf a very off-putting comment which ruined his relationship with Nabi and his gf. This scene happened in the drama. HOWEVER, somehow, for some unknown reason, he forgives Nabi and is suddenly infatuated with her for no reason. What makes her different? Well we don't know. The writers completely took a different approach and painted Park Jae Eon as a victim with a sad background story and can't convey his emotions blah blah blah. The story was supposed to be realistic but it turned out cringey and predictable. A typical "bad-boy-turned-soft-when-he-falls-in-love". People who like PJE only sees him through Song Kang's face. Prove me wrong

2. Nabi: In the webtoon, Nabi was more outspoken. In the drama, she's more passive. There is nothing compelling about her. Nothing interesting. She is a very bland character who needs to find herself first before committing and jumping into relationships. One minute shes angry at PJE and the other shes not. Like, what make up your mind?!?!

3. Dohyuk: In the webtoon, he is cute but as we got to know him we found out that he did it with a girl who had a boyfriend. Hence thats why we see him saying that he always falls for girls who have boyfriends. In the webtoon, he ends up with Nabi. In the drama, Dohyuk is just too smitten with Nabi that he sees everything in rose-colored glasses. Basically he'd do anything for Nabi. This kind of character could definitely bore some viewers so that's why I think the writers should've added more dimension to his character. Well, they should've added dimension to all of the main characters.

All in all, I wouldn't rewatch because the episodes are too long and the leads gets on my nerves. The OST is really good tho. The acting... well.... it could've been better. I think this drama would've been better if it was just a short webdrama instead of a long 10 episodes with 1 hour each drama.

Read More

It was good unti it wasn't

I stumbled upon this drama because I have seen so many clips of it on Tik Tok and decided to check it out. The result is that it didn't disappoint... until it did in the latter half.

- THE GOOD -
1. Acting:
I had seen many of Lee Jong Suk's (Park Chang Ho) dramas, such as W, Pinocchio, and When You Were Sleeping. However, his acting didn't really make me go "WOW" in those dramas. However, it was incredibly good especially in the first half of the drama when his character was in prison but got stale as the drama progresses (after he got out of prison). Nevertheless, it was still tolerable for me. It was my first time seeing him in this kind of role so it was definitely refreshing and I really enjoyed it. This is my first time watching Yoona (Ko Mi Ho) in a drama but I have heard many people saying that she was mediocre. To be honest, I don't really see it. Her acting did justice to the character and it didn't distract me from the main events of the drama.

Apart from our 2 protagonists, the acting of the antagonists was so so so sooooo good, especially in that funeral scene where Kim Joo Heon (Choi Doha) was fake crying and that smirk he gave Park Chang Ho. OMG. Chef's kiss. I love it. Overall, the acting was brilliant.

- THE BAD -
1. Story:
The first half of the drama was what got me hooked! There were so many questions that were unanswered and the biggest one was "Who is Big Mouse?". There were a lot of theories and speculations regarding this and one of my favorites was the theory that Big Mouse was Park Chang Ho and he's just fooling the viewers (breaking the 4th wall). This theory is definitely so much better than the actual Big Mouse reveal (the Room Leader - No Park).

Because Big Mouse is the driving factor of this whole drama, of course when we reveal who the real Big Mouse is, it should be grand right? No. The Big Mouse reveal was so underwhelming that it made me feel that there was more nuance to this, but there wasn't. And then it got revealed that Park Chang Ho's best friend was in the Big Mouse organization too which was totally out of left field because we never learned what the reason behind him being in this organization was. After a disappointing reveal, the great Big Mouse who conned everyone got killed off in like 10 seconds and so Park Chang Ho became the new Big Mouse. What is funny to me is that when Big Mouse wasn't revealed, everyone had a difficult time figuring out the mastermind behind this alias. But when Park Chang Ho became Big Mouse, he was walking around the neighborhood with lines of bodyguards and followers and people bowing to him as if he was parading around that he is the new Big Mouse.

We were introduced to so many plot points prior to the final episodes and so the ending was rushed. It felt as if the drama completely changed its tone after Chang Ho got out of prison - it became dull. The elder was portrayed as someone who got immense power but he was killed off in an instant. The main villain Choi Doha was also killed off too fast and easily so it felt anti-climactic. It would've been better if they followed Vincenzo's route when doing this (iykyk). But then again, this is being posted on Disney+ and Changho is much nicer than Vincenzo so I doubt that would've worked. Miho's death had no impact to it, I was expecting it to be more emotional because she's literally one of the main characters but it felt flat. The final scene went from colours to black & white while Miho's dialogue from wanting to Changho become a good Big Mouse played - this scene was kind of good and it left me with many thoughts like what is the line between wanting to be a good Big Mouse for his wife and becoming a Big Mouse who punishes and kills people, is Park Changho going to become evil, etc.

2. OST:
Personally, I don't know but there wasn't any notable OST in this drama.

-OVERALL THOUGHTS-
Overall, the theories for this drama were far better than the actual plot. I enjoyed it up until the part Changho left prison and the whole new arc began. This drama is worth the binge if you have nothing to watch but don't go into it with huge expectations cause you will get disappointed because of the ending.

Read More

An unexpected drama that fell off halfway

When I read the summary for this drama, I really didn't wanna watch it but after seeing some rave reviews from my friends and also not having anything else to watch, I decided to give it a go.

Overall, there were some "wtf" moments in this drama; an example is the rooftop scene when the group of pigeons just coincidentally helped Vincenzo when he was at a disadvantage. LOL? And the way that all the tenants, who came from an athletic background and even won championships were stuck in a place like Geumga Plaza was just very... coincidentally placed? I was really sad when Cha Yong's dad and Han Seo died, even though we've only seen the dad for a few beginning episodes but he made a very huge impact. Han Seo had the most character development but was sacrificed for our two leads (wowdidntseethatcoming). Also, does anyone else cringe when Vincenzo starts saying some Italian lines? Most of the time, the characters would be conversing about something important and he would randomly quote something from Italian; which would throw me off. Choi Myung Hee's satoori was so annoying (sorry) that I almost dropped this drama (yes it was until that extent).

I didn't care much about the Geumga Plaza tenants; tbh they were rather annoying than funny to me. Also, I think this drama would have been way better without the romance plot. I love Vincenzo & Cha Yong as individuals but unlike others, I don't really see the spark between them and would have loved it even more if they were just business partners.

The OST was good. The acting were A+++++++. But, I wouldn't rewatch it cause the episodes are long and a bit over-the-top for me.

Read More

A heart-wrenching film about the importance of friendships

When people think about the word soulmate, most of the time, the first thought that comes to their mind would be related to a significant other/a lover. But what if I tell you that your soulmate is the pure and deep friendships you've made throughout your life? A soulmate isn't just about finding "the one", a soulmate is someone who understands you significantly, someone who treasures you, and that person can be anyone in your life: a lover, a parent, a pet, or a friend. And this film: "Soulmate" excellently captures this concept. If you're coming into this film with the thought of wanting to know who the ML (Byun Wooseok) ends up with, then you're going to be disappointed because the ML isn't the film's focal point.

Rather, it is the relationship between Miso (Kim Dami) and Haeun (Jeon Sonee). The film takes us from the beginning of their friendship until the end, the conflicts that they have in the middle, and a heart-wrenching conclusion/ending at the end. Miso and Haeun come from different worlds, with different personalities yet they stick together like magnets. With such differences, the film also touches upon the societal expectations for girls such as getting a decent job and marriage and these aspects can be clearly seen in Haeun - an ambitious young woman who wants to paint and draw but had to conform to her parent's expectations of becoming a teacher (something that she is not passionate about). Miso, on the other hand, is more adventurous and she does things her own way. However, she had to cope with harsh circumstances and had to learn the hard way to earn a living by going against social norms. In the end, the only time these 2 characters feel at peace and can be themselves is when they're with each other.

I have already watched the original before watching this and the Korean remake definitely has made some changes, but it did not steer completely away from the main storyline, instead, it adds more substance to it and I really appreciated that. The actors did an amazing job portraying the characters. This film will leave you sobbing after so have some tissues prepared. Definitely recommend this film.

Read More