1 small step for us, 1 big step for SK hallyu (or at least thats what i keep hearing)

one word: symbolism!

What this show symbolises is the possible emergence of BLs to the kdrama scene. It makes me so happy!^^. For a show like this—8 episodes, each averaging about 13 minutes, it manages to pack so many emotions. I literally cannot find any fault with this show besides its length, and the less than stellar story-line.

It's basic at most, and uninspiring at best, but for a project like this, they didn't need a groundbreaking storyline. what really carried this entire web-series was the actors.

Han Gi Chan did a pretty amazing job, for his first acting role. I've seen him Produce X 101, and I would have never imagined he'd do this good a job. Of course, bits were still awkward, but you can tell he worked hard, and that he tried to be as believable as possible. His character Han Tae Joo is very expressive, and HGC showed every bit of that as he could. I'm actually so proud of him! I watched it in reverse order (watched where your eyes linger first, then popped into produce x 101 to see how gi chan was doing before this blew up) and i honestly can't wait to see where his career takes him! He can easily play other high school roles, and I'd definitely watch them ^^

Jang Eui Soo, this is my first time watching one of his works, but I'd say he did a great job too. The actors really carried this show, and even though I wouldn't mind a S2, I can certainly die happy with this S1 alone. Overally, this is definitely worth your (short) time! Give it a watch, and if you can, support it on Viki and not pirating sites if you can help it TT.

have fun watching!~

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Despite its shortcomings, this drama will be categorised as a guilty pleasure for me, a category I know we all have :"P The acting could be better in some areas, but this drama was genuinely cute, and the leads had good chemistry, which is always a major game-changer for me.

The story really could have been better, and it got a little repetitive, but if you're looking for a simple, sweet drama to watch and feel stupidly happy while doing it, esp. towards the end, this is the one. The Male lead's acting could be better, and at times the female lead's acting was **stiff** but they're both hot, so what's new in dramaland? It's not glaringly bad, but if you're super sensitive to the tiniest bit of acting, then probably not for you. This isn't to discredit the actors though. They still did a fantastic job, and I genuinely had fun while watching some parts.

The story can be a **little** unbearable, but it honestly doesn't take itself too seriously, and going off what my memory serves, doesn't have a convoluted, overly ambitious, or plain infuriating plot at all.

Also, the opening song slaps! One of the few OPs i never skipped, and even felt myself dancing to from time to time!

Overall, if you want a simple, cute, and fun romance story, that's not too serious, this is your show :"D

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Good Couple Chemistry for a Well Done Sports Drama!

Don't let the title of this review fool you; this drama had a lot of headaches with the different conflicts and plot points that came up; but overall, it's a sweet drama with a healthy relationship, (and great couple chemistry!)

The kiss scenes came up pretty short (except for the final one at the end of the series) but their chemistry, skinship, hugs and easy banter make up for it!

Wang An Yu knows how to portray a beliavable relationship with any co-star of his—there was a similar comfortable level of chemistry in his series Forever Love (https://mydramalist.com/50395-forever-love) with Julia Xiang.

I would complain about the Coach (he was insufferable throughout, his redemption arc was way too short and easily fogiven, and his terrible sister also did NOT get the kind of ending I had hoped she would—I wanted to see her coming clean about her ugly behaviour, and about the major sabotage that happened that led to a major conflict with the ML)—but, ALAS. I guess the show needed some kind of not-all-black-and-white characters to add depth and complexity.

If you ignore the Coach and his sister—and their insuferable sub-plots and schemes, this drama is truly a heartwarming, nerve wracking show, with a good balance of sports and romance.

The second couple also gets a fleshed out relationship + scenes as well—tho tbh I skipped most of them because I don't usually pay attention to second couples.

Overall; I wouldn't say it's better than GoGoSquid, or Falling Into Your Smile, but I would say its on par with Skate Into Love, and is a pretty solid, well executed drama! If you need an itnerim draam to watch while you wait for more shows to come out, this is it.

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Dragged everything out too much, but still worth watching

I went into this drama with mostly high expectations, especially given the amount of praise the comments and fans were giving for Kim Seon Ho, and the fact that the FL also appeared to have an impressive acting career. The biggest letdown of this show wasn't the acting at all. I think both leads did a great job of delivering.

--> The biggest fault of this show is the story.

The pacing started off well, but for me at least, up to ep 8 or 9 I began skipping. It was definitely around the halfway mark of this series. Everything gets dragged out, and episode 15 has to be one of the most painful eps to watch. I skipped every 5 seconds or so, and only stopped for crucial scenes, because they just dragged this out so much.

If they dragged everything out all the way up until ep 15, what became of ep 16, you may ask?

Episode 16 was anticlimactic. The romance between the leads, who had perfectly good chemistry leading up to this, just felt like that moment had been missed. The scene in episode 2 with the water (as much as I'll say) really gave many fans hope for the romance to come...! But all of that was dragged out, and so many little, unnecessary...contrived things got in the way.

For me, once I start skipping through more than 5 episodes of a drama, i've mostly lost that passion I had for it at the start.

And this seems to be a common thing with kdramas. They always start out good, but they always have to drag out things, and for episodes that are 60 minutes at a time, it gets exhausting. Drama watching shouldnt be a chore for me :(

I always start out with the negatives tho, cause I usually write these right after i'm done watching and im disappointed :^( but! The positives to this show are:

PROS
--->The acting is great. Besides the second male lead, who imo i think was kinda........unnecessary..? OOP that sounds mean. But the entire ensemble is pretty solid. Especially the main leads, the actresses for the mothers, the subway ghost, and even a few of the actresses they got to play the victims for side stories. I actually cried during one of the stories :"( that's how moving it was, so I totally salute both the writers, and especially the actors on their deliveries for such heartwrenching scenes.

--> the comedy is pretty good when it actually tries.like in the beginning episodes, i never laughed as much as a I did at some of the scenes xD

--> The male lead
Was Ko Ji Suk a saint in his past life or something? He's been wronged by the FL so much, but he is still so selfless and, really sweet :O Also, he's cool, but he doesn't know it, and when he IS cool, he gets nervous right after cause he mustered all his courage to do it. like damn where do u find such a healthy ML character in dramaland? Also, respects women? This sounds kinda sad now XD I was half-joking there, but Chief Ko is an all-rounder male lead. 5/5 stars.

--->The chemistry
It's not so palpable that ur feeling it through your screen, but you can tell the characters had mutual respect and...admiration for the other :D it was honstly so warm. It's a shame that their romance had to be so rushed in ep 16 since the screenwriters wasted so much time trying to make twists and turns with their choppy plotline ;-;

--> the message
overall i appreciate the message this show has. It has multiple, but the ones I got were along the lines of everyone carries their own pain, sometimes people become losers (xD) and that, im not sure, there's really no black or white to things. The one thing this show DOES go a job of subverting, is the whole black or white hero mentality. Each character, even the villain, had their own motivations. You can't agree with them, but you can see why they did it. And, that depth should really be a given in film, but still i appreicate the fact that this show also highlighted different themes like family, justice, and, really, you can leave a few episodes feeling good about yourself--even though you did nothing--because there's a lot of moral fulfilment you get from watching certain scenes. :"D


----------------------CLOSING THOUGHTS------------------------


SO, THATS WHY, OVERALL, DESPITE THE CRAPPY ENDING (>:D) this show still gets a high enough rating in my book.
Even though the ending was rushed, I'm used to unsatisfying drama endings by now. They can never seem to really wrap up things that well.

Even so, this Catch the Ghost is still a show I'd recommend to friends, and to you, whoever you are reading this :D I'm a stickler for romance, but if that's not your focus, and you just want a heartwarming story, (with a tiny bit weird ending, but a charming cast nonetheless) give Catch the Ghost a try :D Make ur own judgement. I'm just being bitter abt the romance smh xD

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Pleasantly Surprised! <3

I'll be honest—I went into this show with low expectations. Whether that may have inflated the overall rating, you be the judge of that. All I can say is, for a Chinese drama, it does not disappoint! :'D

I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the overall production value. That constant ad at the beginning of each ep seems worth it now! It wasn't necessarily GRADE A CINEMATOGRAPHY, But it was very good, and I'd say the music and editing were about above average as well.

The M.C. Lin Sen He, comes off as very overbearing in the first few eps, but he begins to grow on you, especially after he falls in love with Bai Xiao Xin. He just turns into caramel, and he's mostly in the palm of her hand it's very adorable. Also, I'd say that the FL, Bai Xiao Xin is a healthy dose of cute, but also self-sufficient. There are cases where she needs to be saved by the ML, but there are also cases where her quick wit saves him too! I think it's a nice balance.

Finally, wow, for a Chinese drama this sure had a lot of kiss scenes um—
Not that I'm complaining.

Typically we're starved for like at LEAST 3, sometimes oNLY 1, so I applaud the two leads for that! Esp, Zhang Yu Jian! (I'll be honest, I didnt really expect much from any of the cast going into this, so this was a pleasant surprise seeing a ML who actually knows how to kiss o.O OFC IT WAS STILL PG-11 DONT GET UP IN ARMS ABT IT) Also, the FL actress Lu Zhao Hua, she also still managed to capture some level of chemistry! The kisses/romantic scenes weren't awkward at all, but not TOO comfortable, where you feel like you're spying on an irl couple....o.O if that makes sense.
.
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But yeah, this show was good! The only reason I put the rewatch value so low, (and my one real issue with this show really...) is that the storyline sorta restarts 3 times (more like 2 times...really) due to the whole comet thing....But thats just if you get a little tired of it like I see myself if I rewatch this in the future. That's easily solved by just fast-forwarding—no biggie.

To close, I finally have another Chinese drama I can recommend to my friends when they ask for recommendations! The length was pretty good, so was the cast, and so was everything else. The rating The Night of The Comment II has right now (7.8) is pretty accurate I'd say. I went slightly below just because if i look at it in the context of other shows I've seen, it doesnt really OUTSHINE them, but this is a good show nonetheless.

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A HOT, TERRIBLE MESS, but a fun one ;)

Having finished this show, I'm honestly not sure...why I even started it? It must have been desperation, but this entire show is honestly just one, chaotic, hot, mess.

But it's a fun, wacky hot mess, that you totally shouldn't take seriously.

And oh, im pretty sure the show took itself seriously, but I didn't. Why?

1. Those fight scenes had me cracking up each time because of how dumb the actors looked, how poorly coordinated it all was, and how tacky the entire performance panned out in general.

2. the plot is almost ripped straight from Itzura na Kiss, which is one of the OG rich boy poor girl kinda high school love stories, except the main guy is filthy stinking rich, and suddenly they're in high society. there are some creative spins, but all that we've seen before.

3. the acting was....definitely not the best ^^" Fair Xing certainly tried her best, and I think she did a pretty good job. She's only gotten better (based on her performance in PYHOMS), and she's def one of the only reasons I kept watching.

4. the entire production quality leaves to be desired.

Overall, this show is pretty bad, but it's bad in a way that's strangely addicting. I kept watching just to see how badly things would go, to see if the overbearing Han Qi Lu would swallow his pride and admit he has feelings for Chu Xia, and if they'd get that happily ever after.

Unfortunately, the show ended in the most fucking anti-climatic way possible, for some "season 2" bullshit but there was never an ending??? Idk chinese dramas seem to like to do season 2 stuns for a drama whose first season ended like it was the end of episode 1. No thematic change? You could have slapped the season 2 divider literally anywhere else, and it would make NO DIFFERENCE, because season 2 was just their way of saying:

Director/Investor: "ah so, we wanna make like, 2 seasons of this"
Writer: "what- the story is literally not built for that-"
Investor: "Did I stutter."

And we get this. Anyways, if u even made it this far, SAY YOU FOUND MY REVIEW HELPFUL U GREMLIN haha. Im losing my mind over this in case you can't tell im super pissed about that "to be continued in season 2" bullshit. Anyways, thnx for reading! ^^

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Eye-candy Drama. Another decent drama once again!

Let's start with LIKES:

1. STORY
So far I love the story a lot. It's an old idea, but they've added new things to it and the execution feels fresh. I especially love the surge of older women younger guy roles I've been seeing lately, mainly as characters, sometimes irl, or both, LOL. It's refreshing.

2. ACTING
Lin Yi's acting has also improved here, and so has his appearance like damn ?. LuLu Xu is also p good. But I've seen her in Sunshine Of My Life (airing time overlapped with this drama i think) and I think I like her there better tbh. I'll get to that in dislikes.

3. MUSIC is OK
it's kinda the standard sounding Chinese female voice singing thing. Tbh in all Chinese dramas the songs kind of sound the same to me, esp the female voice its sang in, so this makes no real difference tbh. But I didn;t notice anything i DISLIKED about it, so that counts for something. And the main songs are very catchy. A score i think is very good (or at least more experimental or that actually made an impression on me, rofl) is the score in The Long Ballad.

4. Filmed nicely
idk shit about cinematography, but it was nice; for the vid game scenes they're done well. Lin Yi's action acting and stunts were a lil wonky XD But i'll forgive him since he's a young and newer actor. And he did seem to have charisma/confidence while doing them, so he's done half the work already XD The fact that the actual video game interface isn't really.....filmed though (besides the standard blue glowy sci fi text and shapes thing) is something that I'm always acutely aware of XD. But i dont mind--whose gonna devote budget to that if its for supporting cast scenes? all the main cast video game scenes are actual filmed scenes. so its cool

I DISLIKE:
1. The FL's indecisiveness
Something tells me the FL is going to be one of the biggest factors as to why this series will be so drawn out, and why the progression of their relationship has been so frustratingly slow so far. At first I thought she was going to be very badass and assertive---after all, she works in show biz, she has to be able to fend for herself. And she can. But when it comes to relationships, she's a little indecisive. Maybe she's scared of relationships and being hurt (which makes sense) but I'm still annoyed lmao. Multiple times the ML has given her hints that he knows its her who he's been talking to online, and up to I think to the end of ep 11 or start of 12, she was still questioning it??

2. The Progression for the first few eps is PAINFUL.
Luckily if you're reading this now, u cannot repeat the same msitake i amde which was to watch this show WHILE AIRING. this show is def binge, skip material for certain parts. Especially between 8 and 12 if memory serves. But if u have patience, disregard this. It's 31 eps, I knew what I was getting into. BUT they didn't have ANY OTHER thing to extend the episode count, than making this stupidly repetitive "does he know its me" and "won't they will they"??

Editing this review poast-finishing the drama, I can definitely say that this was a ride, but it was refreshing, light and enjoyable. (But light without the heft 31 episodes. By the 20s everything goes by in a flash though).

The rewatch value for this is high because then you can just skip through all the unnecessary things, thus skipping the flaws lol.

outside of all that, I like this drama. Its the perfect eye-candy drama, if you're just looking for a light story, with light drama in between, video game/ mostly action scenes, and an attractive cast. The action scenes cud be better imo, but II'll give the benefit of the doubt here. I think Love Scenery is fun, and the visuals (both the actors, outfits, and the video game scenes) makes it worth it.

Overall rating: 7.8
u dont get extra brownie points for being an eye-candy drama smh

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Decent filler drama for in-between shows you love

This is the kind of drama you'd watch in between better dramas that you desperately want to watch, but they're ongoing so you have to wait a week (or day) for it to update :/ This drama is pretty regular.

I've seen someone complain about the FL's acting, and that she's all around very stiff. It comes with the territory. All Chinese drama female leads must be cordial, pious, coy, and she can have spunk, but not too much. So this FL fits the bill perfectly. She's not a total pushover as she was in You Are My Destiny, but she's also not brazen and (cringe-ily) assertive like Eugenie Liu's character in Triad Princess. Perfect LUKEWARM. Yipee. She's a lot more likeable than most female leads in Chinese dramas, imo at least, and she defends herself. She's selectively smart when the situation serves to benefit the male lead (as seeming like a knight on a white horse) but she is also self-sufficient enough.

Weirdly this show seems to allude to more adult things (such as condoms, or motels and sex and that sort of thing, though always in a jesty manner) which i find weird cause like, uhm- China? Y'all can't even do proper kisses on camera you sure you wanna act like you're some kind of pg-19 drama or smthn when this has (and always will be) pg-15 or smthn? I'm looking at them allusions like-


The ML is decent enough. The usual with C-dramas amirite? His acting has it's moments for awkwardness, but what can you do? The IDEA of their chemistry is much more compelling than their actual chemistry lololol, but only 12 episodes are out so far out of 31, and they haven't even realised they like each other, much less kiss, so this is looking like a kiss scene ep 29 affair LMAO. I'll delete/edit this review once the show is finished (or once i drop it(?) LMAO) and we'll see.

also the second male lead is a whiny child.

So far, this drama is just decently above average. It has nothing special to it. Just the standard cold, low EQ male lead, and a FL who's the exact opposite. I sort of like that the female lead lies a lot. The male lead comes off as overbearing and ridiculous in the first few eps but he tones down you get used to him. All in all, watch with a grain of salt, and you'll be able to enjoy it well enough.

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I was just bamboozled

i didnt read the light novel for this, so when I found out that this show had a harem....Idk i just dropped it xD

Idk, it just made me uncomfy. Like I legit stopped the episode right where the next, new...? FL comes in, and I get that its fantasy, set in some kinda dated or alternate time period, but I just felt like the relationship between the first leads that we had been building up so far, was just thrown away in an instant, the moment that ML did what he did :^( like i dont wanna spoil thaat part, but i havent moved from ep 13, and I'm not sure I will.

I was only really watching for leo wu, but that scene kinda rubbed me the wrong way so I just dropped the show. If this doesnt bother you, you won't have issues with the show.

But u see cause I was just so bamboozled--

It's all personal preference, but I just didnt wanna continue the show after that. maybe its cause i had been binging it for hours straight and I felt betrayed, or cause i just dont like harems lmfao

reminded me of isekai anime when the ML picks up his ensemble of waifus, lmao
anyways my personal opinion ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
and btw i dont find reverse-harem riveting either :/

I liked the story tho! You're also constantly hoping and waiting for the ML to become stronger. You just know he'll be badass in the future. But this kind of story, I already know what the ending will be like. I was only holding on to the bits of romance that might develop along the way. him having 2 wives won't mean he doesnt still like the 1st FL, but refer to my line about bamboozlement.

anyways this opinions is now on the web
i hope yall sphere stans dont eat me alive.....

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mediocre; from someone who never saw the original

Never watched the original La Casa de Papel, so this review of of the show as purely a standalone.

DNF @ep2 , due to the sheer stupidity.

I'm not usually a stickler for details or even things making sense. I don't care if a plot has holes in it, as long as it's entertaining. Sadly, this had the former, but none of the latter.

Episode 1 started off strong, and then ep 2 just plummeted.

The biggest affront to me was the fact that The Professor, despite being s smart and intelligent and having a meticulous plan that supposedly accounts for every little detail, is getting all of his enemy intel from inviting the chief negotiator to his COFFEE SHOP.

....A coffee shop near the vicinity of the scene of the crime, in a surrounding city area that has been supposedly evacuated, where besides the negotiator and her few visits, there are rarely ANY OTHER CUSTOMERS.

in this empty coffee shop, the professor is reduced to eavesdropping on the negotiator when she makes calls about their next steps to outwitting the bank robbers, and he hovers stupidly right behind a sliding door, and gets caught the easiest way possible.

the himbo is also extremely stupid, his name's Denver. And the hacker, forgot his name already, is also just as easily outwitted.

You're constantly wondering if the professor has accounted for character flaws like these in his highly meticulous plan, right? When he tries to call and ask whats going on, they hang up on him, and he instead gets his intel from TEXTING THE NEGOTIATOR AND INVITING HER OVER FOR FOOD AT HIS STUPID CAFE

and then the supposed sexual tension between the negotiator and the professor was just terrible and make me deeply uncomfortable. why is this man asking when she had her last orgasm over negotiations? like i get it was supposed to be sexy and all but the actors really weren't pulling it off, and it was just so.....uncomfortable.

The only remotely interesting characters here are Berlin and Tokyo, and them alone isn't enough to keep me watching.

for a show that promises such an amazing heist, i expected top notch pacing, and intelligent plot lines. But every single time the camera pans away from the scenes at the bank, to tat blasted, stupid coffee shop, I want to shoot myself in the foot.

please, end my suffering. its so bad.

the word cringe, is cringe, and it makes me cringe just writing it, im stuck in an endless loop of cringe; but its the best word for those coffee shop scenes, and any scene in ep2, ever. CRINGE.

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Chemistry's just not that good! (don't shoot me)

Listen friends, when a show is relying on its main couple for success, the chemistry better be damn good.

Good chemistry relies on at least 1 heavyweight.
Either the ML is milking the hell out of it, with heated gazes, body language, subtleties, etc.
Either the FL is really milking it with either the push/pull or the getting embarrassed thing.
or,
Either BOTH of them are the heavyweights, in which case, it's great.

For SHPH....it's neither.

PROS:
- Im glad we get to hear Xu Kai's actual voice! if only we'd gotten this for FIYS
- Yang Mi is really beautiful, and her acting is OK as well (though its concerning to me how skinny she is—this isn't a jab at her, but more at China's insane beauty standards.)
- this CP has the looks. Tons of eye-candy whenever they're on camera.
- ....that's it.

CONS:
- Xu Kai's acting --
wait don't skewer me just yet!! His acting's not bad here, it just feels so awkward! I hate that I can tell when actors are acting—I'm not supposed to be seeing Xu Kai pretending to be Yang Hua, it should be Yang Hua who looks surprisingly like the actor Xu Kai!!

- Terrible melodramatic script.
So much of the story gets bogged down down by her brother and sister-in-law's terrible, toxic relationship (that the writing is encouraging them to stay in...????), the petty ex, the absurd law firm rule about partners' marital status, the ML's mom, etc. So much of it just feels like filler.

And the worst offence of all:

- This CPs chemistry just isn't that good. If newer eps come out and prove me wrong, I'll gladly take it back! But XK just seems awkward with YM, and YM just seems to awkward with XK. I've yet to have a seen where I'm kicking my feet giggling, you can feel the tension/chemistry in the air, you see the *gaze* of either leads, you feel embarrassed for watching them...I can almost see the bright fluorescent lights of the cameras, and the 20+ crew standing in front of them, staring. *shivers* so awkward. (tho I will say, XK's chemistry was only *slightly* better in FIYS)

Anyways, I'm kind of disappointed—the story's not that good, we see virtually the same sets all the time, every episode feels a little bit of a rinse and repeat of the same thing, it's all just exceptionally DRAGGED OUT, there are NO SCENES that make your heart flutter, and the CPs chemistry isn't that good!

Worst of all, half the plot is Qin Shi's struggles in her career at the law firm—but our ML has no ambition of his own, and its quite boring to see. His scenes all revolve around the FL, or are him....doing nothing.

Of course, I'll keep watching, but not on an ep. by ep. basis. This isn't good enough to make me wait each day for the next ep. to come out. I'll wait till there's at least ~20/30.

I hope it starts picking up, pleaseeee. I paid VIP for this (ಥ﹏ಥ)

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Tired, old trope and I don't have time for that.

So, i gave this drama 2 chances. episode 1, then episode 2. I'm not interested in seeing anymore because we all know how it's going to end.

Neither of the 2 leads are likeable.

This entire show is just a case of drawing it out with pointless drama, when we all know the pushover FL is going to end up with the jerk she's had a crush on since she was a schoolgirl. This drama gives me "fake deep" vibes.

You know, its kinda try hard? Like it WANTS to be a really deep, maybe profound romance thing, thats like deep, but thats kinda hard to take seriously when the FL's been pining over a stupid highschool crush for more than 10 years. Like wth? Girl, its been a whole decade. Move on? And the ML is an asshole and I can't get behind him lmao.

it took me 10 seconds to see the second male lead and instantly realize i was going to get second-lead syndrome. the second male lead could have been an entire light post and the same thing would happen ;-; that's how hard it is to root for any of these characters.

Anyways, this entire "relationship" is just toxic, the story is going to be the most painful, excruciatingly long CHORE of a drama to finish; and I don't have time for that :) dramas should NEVER turn into a chore for me to dread watching. I'll keep my light-hearted do do sol sol la la sol tyvm. This can stay on the shelves :)

tl;dr nothing that's already been said about this (in all the other low rating reviews) is any different from what i'm sayinG. I just wrote this review anyways, because a 8.0 rating is lowkey deceptive. this drama isn;t worth anyone's time :/ Good production quality and a decent OST can't save bad writing. This is the old, tired trope of childhood friends to lovers, only executed in the nastiest way possible. Hard pass.

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Boring...It's just really boring and so-so.

I don't get why there are so many high reviews. But I also don't think I'm the target audience for this despite also being a teen.

I think this drama is just extremely slow-paced and boring. Even the parts that are supposed to be comedic feel like they go on for a bit too long, such as with line delivery or even editing, idk. Meet Yourself was also extremely slow-paced but I didn't struggle with the episodes at all like I have for this. I've fought sleep just to get through the first 2 episodes, and finally gave up at ep 3 XD

The ML is boring.

I get that he's supposed to have some kind of trauma from his overachieving younger brother, but he's not very inspirational or charismatic, and he's a ML formula I've seen countless times in other cdramas and reading other danmei. He's only desirable (and the show constantly repeats that to us) because he is handsome, gets good grades, and despite being a man of few words, the FL absolutely adores him and chases him down, so we must also like him and cheer them on, right? Her crush starts because she sees him in the rain at the convenience store right? I get that you're in high school, crushes start from silly things. But nothing about his cardboard personality is appealing.

Maybe she just likes handsome, boring guys. It's the same formula as A Love so beautiful and countless other dramas with a cold, perfect ML and a normal FL. Maybe he's not as perfect because of his younger brother, but how am I supposed to get there when the episodes leading up to that are SO BORING? Yawn. When will we ever get something new..??

The Second lead couple is more interesting.

I often mistook them as the actual First lead couple because the SML has more charisma and is more entertaining to watch, and so is the SFL. It's just that the Second Male leads acting wasn't that good consistently (sometimes I can tell too easily that he is acting, or conscious of himself or a camera while acting, other times I'm able to crack a smile), and it breaks the immersion, for comedy especially. He's trying his best but it doesn't come as naturally as say, more experienced supporting role performances from An Ge, or Yu Cheng En or Marcus Li in Go Go Squid).

For the whole drama I think I laughed like two or three times, but it was more of a chuckle XD Idk, his acting needs some more practice. He's young, and I felt awkwardness from his scenes with the SFL, also partly due to the SFL too, so that's why even though their story line is slightly better, I felt too aware of the camera/uncomfortable watching them.

Anyways, even if the acting was better, I don't think it would rescue the extremely boring and slow pace that was putting me to sleep. If you want to do a slow-paced, slice-of-life style drama, you can still do it without making my eyes glaze over. Meet Yourself is one such drama that is slow paced and slice-of-life, and I absolutely loved it.

I don't get why there are so many good reviews hailing this as an amazing show, I think it's really just regular, and maybe it has corrected some errors from dramas with the same formula. But I also think the rating might be inflated because Summer 2023's Cdramas so far have been...not so stellar to say the least.. A show that would normally get an 8.5 gets shot up to 9.0 because the other dramas this season were disappointing (aiya...)

I don't think this is a bad show at all tho, and I can see why some people might like it. I just don't think this is a groundbreaking show to warrant a 9.0 rating. Besides the vintage camera thing that they use for the FL's diary, I cannot see myself realistically sitting down for another 21 episodes of this stuff. This is one that just missed the mark, both with the comedic breaks that are supposed to break up the banality, and the acting.

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desperate but not THAT desperate

I'm desperate for a show to watch to pass the time...but clearly not desperate enough cause im gonna pass on this one.
the portrayal of Africa, as a continent, which wow, that in and of itself (why are you trying to potray a whole continent as 1 country), is egregious.

Since the writers didn't spend the time to properly research where the actor would be volunteering, I don't owe them my time to properly watch the show either.

I rlly wanted a good kdrama to watch this season, but i guess this won't be it. Off to Again, My Life I go :) that, or i'll hop over to cdramas. At least they're not trying to act like white saviours there .

Ok bye. firs episode is offensive and idt I need to sit thru smthn I'm uncomfortable with or reward poor research and misinformation with engagement! bye!

edit: everytime i read the title i see shitting stars and that will never not be funny to me lmao

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