Reviews

I’m not even sure why I picked this movie to watch in the first place. I’ll blame it on staying up way too late which causes a lack in proper decision making skills. It was convoluted and a little twisted. A man causes chaos within a single family by seducing all the ladies with varied tactics. The reason why he went on his seducing spree? Not a clue. What I got from it was that he believed that a secret could empower a person to become more and have more to live for. So, he felt that by sleeping with them all he gave them a secret that would better their life… then he leaves without a trace and starts the process all over again. My second question that I asked myself, after wondering why I picked it in the first place, was why did I struggle all the way through to the end? That would have to be for Lee Byung Hun. However, when the credits rolled I wasn’t really certain that Lee Byung Hun gazing had been enough to make up for what I’d just sat through. Definitely not a movie that I would recommend.

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There is no plot summary, so i will sum what i can.
The story line is very similar to those out there.
Our main girl character is called into the palace along with two others to be companions to the princess in the palace.
She has no interest in staying in the palace because she has a childhood sweetheart.  
Out of the two others, one of them has their eyes set on the crown prince, but of course the crown prince has his eyes set on our main girl.
There lies the jest of the story.  Who does she end up with, the prince or her childhood sweetheart.

Throw into the story a couple of sidelines, and of course someone is out to kick the crown prince out of his throne, you get the jest of it all.

Overall, its nothing new, but a very modern-ish portrayal of palace life.

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Once a loser, stays a loser.

*Updated Review - 8 episdoes*

I’ve just finished all eight episodes, and I wish this drama was longer! It’s such a warm, nostalgic trip down memory lane, capturing the essence of college life, friendships, and young love. Set in the early 2000s, it brings back memories of first crushes, late-night talks, and figuring out life one step at a time.

The four main characters make this drama shine, their friendship feels so real, reminding me of the days when friends were our biggest cheerleaders and partners in crime. They tease, support, and stand by each other, making every moment special.

And then there’s the romance; awkward confessions, heartbreaks, and unrequited love, all portrayed in a way that’s both hilarious and painfully real.

Now that it’s over, I feel a little unsatisfied. The drama captures the raw reality of young love; messy, uncertain, and fleeting, but some questions felt unanswered, especially for the boys. While I wish for more closure, maybe that’s the point. Not every story wraps up neatly, just like in real life.

Even with its bittersweet ending, this drama was an emotional ride that made me laugh, reminisce, and wish for just a few more episodes.

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A HIT Chemistry Between leads but a MISS Execution by makers

“If I had a single flower for everytime I think about you I could walk forever in my garden”- Zhang Yu

So I initially started this drama because I have watched all the dramas Esther Yu stars in and one fine day I stumble upon the trailer of A romance of the little forest which immediately intrigued me as I a am a huge fan of "she fell first but he fell harder" trope, and now that I have completed the drama i want to say that god do I love YSX and BB the chemistry they gave, they literally gave life to Yu meiren and Zhang Yu. This is my first time watching Zhang BinBin in a drama and he really is so talented. This further proves that the only reason I had to put up with this drama was because of the main lead and that's it.

I had much expectation with this project since they had a pair that was giving the chemistry way above the par however the makers made the most idiotic decision of cutting such intense scenes of the Lead pair, giving all the screen time to the second pair, dragging the lead pair's story to no end. This drama could have been easily a major hit like Love O2O but the makers clearly did not know how to execute the story.

Amidst the slow pacing, the deleted scenes, the screentime given to the second pair they did not fail to keep the drama alive with their immense chemistry. This is why I gave the drama 5.5 stars or else I would have given it literally 0.

l would recommend this drama only if you can keep up with the slow pacing and putting up with bland, unnecessary scenes of the second lead (mind you they do not contribute anything to the plot and their chemistry is boring af).

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"Trillion Game" is a hyperbolic ride of a drama. In probably one of the better manga-to-live action adaptations I've seen in awhile (though I haven't read the manga), this drama brings to life the story of two men navigating the business world, aiming to be trillionaires, and makes it one hell of an entertaining suspenseful ride. It's formulaically cheesy at times, and the characters are a little simplistic, but there's something about the execution that is so compelling. For me, it's really two things - the music (what an fantastic and energetic score!) and the acting. Ooh, do Meguro Ren and Imada Mio pack a PUNCH. Separately, both skilled and enjoyable to watch and then when they get to have scenes together - it is so magnetic! Meguro is really challenging himself with the role of Haru, but after an episode or two, I couldn't imagine anyone else as Haru, laughing and dishing out triumphant high fives. Haru is, by far, the most complex character and Meguro truly gives him that nuance in the moments where it requires it the most. The rest of the cast is a pleasure too! So definitely recommend this if you are looking for a ridiculous and wholesome drama to suspend your disbelief for (but once you do, it is SO MUCH fun!) or if you are a huge fan of Meguro Ren (he doesn't disappoint!).

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Wondeful!

This is such a great drama. The acting and chemistry of leads is just perfection! The story delightful as the two interact and grow close. Both characters are so well drawn and shows how despite their differences they are a couple so beautifully matched and so respective of each other. Dali is a strong female lead which is so great- he is just so adorable in his love and reaction to her!
The plot is interesting and moves along at a nice pace. The music so fitting and the costumes particularly Dali's are just stunning!
Cant recommend this enough - romance, humor, visuals - perfection!

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I'm crying right now, I literally can't write a review.
This season blew me away. It was so much more emotional and moving than the first two while relying on them as a foundation. For those who can relate, it is reminiscent of the third Lord of the Rings movie.

Honestly, I can't help but draw parallels between this and Lord of the Rings.
This falters in lofty depictions every now and then from a technical standpoint, but it's so moving. My cheeks are still conduits.
I could not help but think of the hobbits returning to The Shire after a long fought war when the last episode ended with a plain scene of Balsa returning to the hut to see Tanda moving around inside, birds chirping in the background and a peaceful piano piece playing. I was at a loss for words, it was so beautiful. She enters and there's a shot of her spear left outside the hut, leaning against the wall... Ah. Closure.
I'm breaking out of my usual review format because I don't know what I'm saying.

Now I'll try to remember to the start of this season.

Story (10):
First off, by the end of the season you may have already forgotten about the Kambal sequence (which is almost the whole first half), but it was a very good part of the story. We get to see major character development and reconciliation in our titular character Balsa as well as more of her nation shaping actions. A major part of this development and Kambal adventure is her past with Jiguro which I can't applaud enough. I didn't expect this, because I thought we'd seen a fair enough of her background, but this season is where we see everything that happened with her father and Jiguro...
Basically, the Kambal king killed her father (ordered it), and Jiguro rescued Balsa and was labeled a traitor for doing so. This caused his whole clan to be disgraced for many years.
And there are so many good side characters introduced in this season including her Aunt who has a bitter love for Jiguro (I loved this and how it plays out even after his death), the almost awkward prince son of the Kambal king, and Jiguro's nephew Cahm who plays a large role to the end of the season. Even these side characters have development arcs; for instance, Cahm is despondent at Jiguro for the disgrace of the family clan, and blames him for his mother's death. His hatred falls to Balsa as an accomplice, and we see how he changes and grows from this angry young man.

The second half of this season (there's a blend of course), focuses on the invasion of the Talsh empire as well as potential disaster from the migrating Naguyu waters. That's really all I'll say about the plot now, but there's a lot going on here with characters too.
First and foremost, there's the relationship between Balsa and Tanda.
I'll have to admit, I didn't feel it for whatever brief, apparent unrequited affections Tanda had in the first season, and it wasn't really part of the second season beyond missing each other. However, here I guess I only just realized how deep their connection was as childhood friends from the portrayal of the backstory in the first half of this season.
Even then, I still thought all the feelings were one-sided until Balsa migrates back to the hut that Tanda, her and Jiguro shared when she was growing up. She's expecting Tanda and professes to missing his cooking (wait, was that from S2...), but when she arrives, he's gone off to war.
Watching them apart and trying to get together exposed true feelings of emotional reliance and what a peace they are to the other, and when they reunite it only grows more apparent.
There's another side character I thought would be a Mary Sue at first who is interested in Tanda, but she proves her worth and ends up giving Balsa a nudge in the right direction to help the relationship along.
That said, this isn't a lust filled relationship, people. That's not what we're here to watch and the show did a good job of keeping it in line with the story so it didn't feel jarring.

Since I went on and on about Balsa and Tanda I'll try to keep other relationships short, but there's a very interesting relationship with the Emperor and the Second Empress that also actually plays into the plot. While we're on the subject, the Emperor. He was only the supposed God in the previous seasons, but here we see more of his thoughts and why he has become that way, and we see how far he is willing to go to stick to his ideals. It's both aggravating and moving at different times.
And then there's Prince Raul. My initial reaction on seeing him in S2 was that he was a spoiled, cruel prince. He may be cruel, but he has passion and motivation, and we see him come to a breaking point towards the end that was great to watch to see his flaws.

Do you guys get the point? There are lots of great characters in this show.


Acting (9.5):
I'm only docking a point because there were a couple jarring acting scenes, but most of it was very good, and there were some very exceptional scenes that had me crying (before the last episode).
I can't review acting without making another parallel to LOTR. The more I watched, the more Chagum looked like Frodo. It's not really the character, but the actor actually reminded me of Elijah Woods and I couldn't get over it in a good way. Loved that.
Plus, did I mention, Ayase Haruka?
I think for secondary characters, some of my favorites were Cahm and Prince Raul (of the Talsh empire)


Music (10):
I've talked about this music before in my other reviews of the previous seasons.
It's exceptional. I don't know if it's based off of the anime or anything because I haven't bothered to watch or listen to that (yet), but it's phenomonal. I never skipped the intro because I loved listening to the title track.
I briefly mentioned it earlier, but I cannot get over that ending. Whoever decided to end the show with that piano piece was brilliant. I'm still crying. even this far into the review okay, don't laugh.


Rewatch Value (10):
I thought the other seasons were ones I would seriously consider rewatching at some point... I didn't know what I was in for with this season. This is going on my list of most rewatchable things (as in ANYTHING, movie, drama, show, regardless of origin), ever.


Overall (10):
There's on denying it isn't completely perfect, but I felt it was mostly on a technical level that this had any failures. There were the few CGI shots that I had to cringe at, but there were also very well done CGI effects and some amazing cinematography.
At one point in the last episode, I was very disappointed with a water sound effect that almost ruined the gravity of the sequence, but at the end of the episode I could care less.
Again, there was also some issues with scale. 15 people instead of 15,000 soldiers, etc. But I have to admit, the battle sequences are done better than usual C-Dramas for instance.
And that's the battles, I'm not talking about the fights. Something about the fights in the second season, especially the first half of it, felt lacking. This season, not so. Gorgeous fight sequences. Spears are my favorite now.
For anyone still reading, any Kaladin fans?? I'd love a Japanese dramatization of The Stormlight Archive. Kaladin is a spear-wielder and I couldn't help but think of him throughout this show.

So seriously, if you've seen the first two seasons and aren't sure if you want to finish, then get over it, watch it please. This exceeds the first two. If you haven't watched the first two seasons, just start it. The first season is only 4 episodes and while the weakest of the three, sets a good world building foundation and showcases some good fight sequences. If you aren't in love with Balsa after it, then I'm not in love with you either.

I'll conclude my longest review yet (I think, maybe?), and let you go watch this show. I may edit this when I think of more to add.

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An excellent but underrated drama

This isn't just a simple time travel story, it is the story of a man realising that though past cannot be changed, present can be.

I started watching this drama expecting the lead role Hao Hui Gui to be trying to change some events in his past that lead him to live such a miserable life in his middle age. As the drama proceeded, I realised, it has a lot deeper meaning for us to learn.

Hao Hui Gui lands in 1998 as a class-teacher of his own past self. This allows him to have an overview of his own life from the viewpoint of a teacher. He started off by doing what anyone would do upon meeting his past self; trying to protect him (Liu Da Zhi) from every difficulties he faced in the past but gradually starts being strict on Liu Da Zhi to guide him to the right path. He never enjoyed being a professor in the present but being a teacher to himself and his classmates, he actually starts liking his job.

He tries to change several bad events in his life but only ends up realising that those things will still happen. Hao Hui Gui is more than just a school teacher for Liu Da Zhi and his friends; he guides them in taking important decisions of life, overcoming difficulties and emotional turmoil and even in friendship. Now that he is grown up, he knows what immature mistakes he made as a teenager than weakened the friendship between him and his friends even in present day.

It is a slow paced drama where some parts may seem boring but are essential to understand the emotional condition of all the characters.

To conclude, I would say this drama taught the lead role and me to cherish every moment of life and learn from bad experiences rather than just regretting. This drama also reminds us that friends need to be there for each other in tough times. Another major teaching of this drama is that we should express our feelings or it might be too late.

This is a highly underrated drama. I hope more and more people watch it to make it more successful. It is indeed a lot more than just a time-travel fantasy but story revolving around friendship and changing relationships.

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Excellently written and directed, not to mention wonderfully acted, it was both realistic in its portrayal of someone was who on the “spectrum” (but of the highly-functional-and-bestowed with-genius-type, and hence could be termed eccentric), and other “normal” people. The struggles one go through on this journey of life was minutely encapsulated in this lovely drama, which had the expressed wish to be a beacon - if only for a moment - of healing for our harried lives.

In turns funny, heartfelt, heartwarming and bittersweet, this was a drama which will leave you with feelings of contentness and peace.

A major theme of the drama was kindness and acceptance of oneself and others; after all, we could be no one else but ourselves. Many other things to marvel at and learn of, as well.

A must watch! (For those who are looking for a small piece of warmth and nuggets of wisdom).

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Need more Cdramas like this…

Great show. Very fun! These are the type of Cdramas that keep me excited to see more. This simple little mini series kept things moving right along and was very engaging. Lots of comedic moments and the story was good. Each character was interesting. The acting was decent and the exaggerated characters with their facial expressions and antics kept me laughing. I wouldn’t mind seeing a longer version of this sort of drama. Surprisingly, the CGI wasn’t terrible. It definitely reminded me of Dominator of Martial Gods which I also enjoyed. I liked this one just a tad more because of the comedy. Our main lead was awesome in this and hope to see many more lead roles with him.

The only downside is it’s a mini series so you don’t get much of character building and backstory.

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I'll start off by saying that this movie is not for the average viewer. It's an artsy movie with no palpable plot, seemingly dead action-wise and with no apparent thread of thought.
However, if you acknowledge the above, then you are in for a very interesting experimental movie, directed in a wonderful postmodern manner.
There is nothing happening in the movie, as I said, but actually everything is unraveling in a furiously silent manner. What is important to look for are the many symbols and small gestures that compose the hidden story behind the film: the sudden changes that shot small glimpses of the house bathed in light,on a clear sunny day that overlap with the dark, gloomy, rainy house; the open doors from the bright house, that suggest openness, hope and harmony, yet human activity is completely absent, as opposed with the progressive closure of each door in the inhabited house, on a rain stricken day; the opposed motifs of the dog sculpture she received from her husband early in their relationship, which symbolized stability, loyalty, and the cat that crawled into their house, which suggested a free spirit, unattachment, and reinforced by the fact that the cat was very scared and in the process it hurt him, although he was doing his best to tend to it and the strong scene where she seemed to become a part of the darkness while looking out the window and, while she blended into the dark, the cat suddenly appeared, to only disappear again after the woman came out of the shadow, that suggested that the cat was really an avatar for the woman... oh, I could go on, as the movie is really packed with symbols, but then again, I'll let those that chose to watch it to discover things for themselves.
The acting was great, their expressions were very rich and suggestive, the gestures, the pauses were stellar and gave of the right vibe for this movie. He portrayed the perfect image of an emotionally handicapped individual that was unable to express his true feelings, and she was also great at illustrating the character of a strong woman that also needed someone to comfort and show emotion, but that fell into frustration with the man she still loved and had to seek refuge in another relationship.
All in all, I recommend this movie if you are in the right state of mind to fully enjoy a more complex film that is sure to spike your interest and curiosity.

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This drama had so much potential! The first few episodes were excellent, but rushed writing really brought the quality down near the end. It still gets an overall 8 from me for it’s strong start that gave me all sorts of cute butterfly feelings, but it just couldn’t maintain that initial wow factor.

The beginning of this drama was absolutely adorable! It was refreshing to see two adults be, well, adults about their relationship and the romantic chemistry between the leads was electric. But the plot really started struggling once it began focusing too much on the male lead’s perceived struggles rather than Asuka’s storyline. Despite his good looks and soft-spoken charm, he became such a noble idiot that I actually switched loyalties to the second lead, something I rarely do. It’s pretty clear that cutting the length of this drama had a negative impact on the script writing and subsequent character development.

Nishiuchi Mariya really carried this drama and I loved her portrayal of Asuka. First-time actor Yamamura Ryuta impressed me a lot too and I hope he continues acting. The supporting cast didn’t have much to work with when their characters got quickly pushed into random plots near the end but they also performed very well. There was so much potential!

Conclusion: It was a good drama that needed more time to develop its plot and characters. Not a must-watch but if you like cute and realistic relationships check it out!

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