Reviews

This can be hard to get into if you do not like to wait for a backstory; however, the character backgrounds were well written and it embodied what the spirit of the drama.
With each episode at 30 - 40 minutes a pop, this is easy to binge watch.
Speaking of watching, the subtitling Gods and Godesses thought enough of the Amazon Prime users to give us the whole season complete. Viki is catching up, but again on Prime it is complete.
If you make it to episode 10, then you may as well watch the whole thing because curiosity will kill the cat, and only viewing satisfaction will bring it back.
I do understand that my review does push for viewing, but to really understand what you are getting into...you gotta see for yourself.

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"Watered down" BL, which is disappointing...

While the manwha was about four boys, this was "heterofied" for unknown reasons. They changed a lot and cut a lot which did not do the manwha justice. Because there are not four boys anymore they also changed the dynamic between the characters drastically.

While I get the teenager angst to confess, this was sometimes frustrating to watch.
Please, for god's sake just say it and be over it. But no, it dragged on for 9 episodes.

The rest of the show was not bad, the actors good and the cinematography top notch. But overall they invested too much into the hetero pairing imho. After the confessions, we did not even get a kiss 😭. So this is a bitter pill to swallow and kills the BL imho.

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Stop saying it's a sad ending.

I've officially finished watching and I can surely say this is the novel adaptation that priest deserved.
I was a bit skeptical at the beginning but the characters won me over. Even though the budget is super low (and it shows) they somewhat make up for it with other aspects. A huge thank you for whoever that made this gayer than the novel.

The story is good, but some might find the political sides a bit boring. It does lag sometimes. Somewhat different than the source material but not that drastic of a difference and it definitely helps. The hidden details just make it more interesting.

CG is definitely not the best. Music and bgm are also decent as well. Costumes are so pretty especially the ML's.

I do not have enough words to describe how much I love the main CP. Butterflies everytime they interact. Their relationship is so beautiful. Every episode is just ......chefs kiss*. The side characters are also decent. If you loved CQL you will definitely love this one too.

Even though it has its fair share of heart breaks the ending is happy and satisfying. They become immortals together. There is a short 37th episode & I would suggest everybody to watch that. It's a genuinely happy ending not open or ambiguous. They had to edit it out because we all know how BS Chinese censorship is.

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Uncanny in all the best ways. Painful in the most beautiful ways.

Not gonna lie - the whole show made me feel extremely uncomfortable more than once. Escapism in the purest and scariest form. Heaven never sounded more like hell. The truth is, happiness only exists in contrast to sadness. You can only cherish what will eventually cease to exist.

Sci-fi is a genre that’s extremely hard to ace. You either don’t get enough information to understand it and get immersed in the created world, or the creators overexplain everything, and it seems like a wikipedia page. Yonder managed to keep the balance from start till the end. They gave enough exposition through dialogues to make sense of the sci-fi elements, but they also used a lot of visuals and simple storytelling to explain and expand the rest.

The core of the show though is its philosophical theme centering around happiness, grief and meaning of existence. My brain hurts after watching it. It invites you to dwell on so many complex issues that are hard to grasp just by watching - it made me want to think about them more, even after the episodes ended. What is happiness? How can we achieve it? What gives life meaning? How to deal with grief? Can one get prepared for death? Not to mention the whole ethical side of exploiting people’s pain dressed up as compassion and the selfish and egocentric side of humans.

On the storytelling side - they did an amazing job with pacing. Each scene was meaningful, nothing was dragged, almost nothing felt rushed (on that “almost” under spoiler comment below). The show just flows so well. I would say, it seems better as a binge watch, treating it like a long movie. The breaks between episodes might slightly take one out of the immersion. I honestly regret starting it right when it aired, instead of watching it all when it finished.

Performances - from phenomenal to not memorable. That said, some characters were not exactly written with much depth, and only served a purpose of pushing the plot forward (mostly Hacker Park and the doctor working with them).

Shin Ha Kyun… This man. How is this even possible for him to keep surprising me with his skill? Where’s the limit to his talent? No words to describe his delivery of the character.

The choice of the songs perfectly elevated all the scenes. Did I cry? Yes, many times.

Production value was top notch. Yonder is like a beautiful art piece. Loved everything - the angles, the lighting and use of colors, the proper use of close up and slow motion, the camera rotation that were never overused. The subtle and well designed special effects.

There was one element of the conclusion/reveal by the end that I did not exactly like. It was well written and integrated to the story - it was just my personal preference for the show not to include it. I like when the shows that create an existential crisis in me keep things more open and vague - left to my own personal interpretation. But what I’ve got was a more solid answer to one question, that somehow felt like a contradiction.

Overall, I truly loved it. It’s for sure a show that needs to be analyzed and watched with brain on. Not because it’s so complex plot wise, or hard to understand. Rather, because it tackles many serious issues and questions that are worth asking yourself, and finding out what is your answer.

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On paper, this drama seems exciting and something new and fresh in the great landscape that is a period drama from South Korea. The sort of procedural police drama with a bit of romance set during the Joseon era is something we don’t get every day. But as the drama progresses, it seems to lose its essence and become a little too traditional.

This drama does spend a whole lot of time telling us things, rather than showing it to us. Both with the romance and the mystery, which goes in too many circles and consequently loses its tension after a while. It does ramp up again in the second half, but by then a whole lot of people will have lost interest in it because the buildup wasn’t there.

It all comes down to how difficult it is for the drama to make up its mind whether it wants to be a romantic comedy set in the Joseon era or more of a mystery about a young policeman who chases after people who break the law and the people who get in his way and complicate the whole matter. And the story never really manages to combine the two into one solid story no matter what it tries.

The structure of neither of those plot points is strong enough for it to work properly because the buildup wasn’t there, and there is a lack of balance between all these different elements of the story as well.

The plot seems too rushed at times; it never really stops long enough to explore things or build them up enough for it to hook you in. There is a lot of tell, and not enough showing us things. Showing us the main couple falling in love for example. Things just happen because they are supposed to happen. But at the same time, the story drags its feet so much and the plot and the character go in so many circles - which is a shame because the cast is great, but not used all that well within the story.

It’s Ro Seo who manages to shine the most in this drama and her character manages to be the heart of the story someone you can really root for. Hyeri is so likeable here. And if the story had been built solely around her, we might have gotten a better story. But it is Nam Young and his story halts the story so much. He is only there because Ro Seo needs some contradiction to her character and her story, but he does not get enough to do so that it has a strong enough impact on the story. His character hardly matters in the grand scheme of things.

This role insufficiently used Yoo Seung Ho, one of South Korea’s most talented actors in his age range, which is a damn shame. And while Yoo Seung Ho uses all his charisma and puts as many emotions and empathy into Nam Young as he can muster, the writing does not match his energy, so no matter what he does, Nam Young feels flat as a character. Which is frustrating to watch. He is a plot-point, not a solid character who influences the story itself. Most of the story he is just there.

Moonshine falls into the same pit that I think many period dramas like it fall into and that is to put too much emphasis on the palace politics and the royal family and uses it as a crutch or a tool to carry the story forward or build suspense - like the evil mother-in-law is used in rom-cos to add drama and stakes to the story and the romance. And it doesn’t really work. There is a certain skill that needs to make that work within a story, and it must be used with a purpose, or it becomes so dull. And many of these lighter period dramas, like Moonshine, don’t know how to utilize it. To me it comes off as a possible lack of courage in the story itself from the writer.

There is a lack of stability or focus in the story, especially towards the middle, which improves slightly as we get towards the end, but the story never really allows the moments to linger (and therefor there is a lack of buildup) and often seems too hasty so it comes across that the characters move with the story, but not the other way around. Things just need to happen. Therefore the tension in the narrative isn't really there.

Moonshine is an overall drama with lots of potential, but with such an aimless narrative that hesitates to take risks and break away from the norms of its genre, with crown princes, palace politics and forbidden love between classes etc. It leaves the mystery of the story in the dust and therefore the structure of the story, some of the character and many of the side-plots feel rather flat and they lack a little focus and depth. The drama wanted to do too much, but at the same time too little, with the time it took to tell this story. I cannot say that I was bored watching the drama, but rather that I was frustrated by the wasted potential of it all. The cast carried the drama through for me.

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The cake is too dry.

It looks great on the outside, but it tastes like sawdust.

The cast is special. Atom is fantastic at everything, including perfect comic timing, Guide is both adorable and sexy, Poom is gorgeous and an excellent actor, and Ohm showed up to work.

The chemistry of the main couple is non-existent. Or I should say Guide makes a valiant effort but he pours his chemistry onto a fencepost. If only this series had Poom in the lead role - he and Guide had so much better chemistry that it was nearly impossible to cheer on the main pairing.

It's a mercy this was only 6 episodes, but it should have been 2 or 3. Or it could have worked as 6 if anything ever went anywhere or was explored. Why is Atom & Oab's mother like that? Why didn't Atom's character arc go anywhere? Why was Atom always wearing a shirt? What happened to Guy's store? Why did they wait until the last 2 minutes to sell grandma's cakes? Everthing is surface and there's no real character development. Shin SAYS he's become compassionate, but we never really saw it. Grandma is cute, but she's a stereotype of grandmotherly grandmotherness. (It's a minor miracle that she made it to the end - I lost a lot of money on that bet.)

I can't recommend this - it's dull and pointless, although if you want to stare for a few hours at a bunch of gorgeous men and Ohm, you may get some pleasure out of this.

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This is not a love story

Rather, this dorama is about the changing societal expectations of relationship, the roles of gender, and their interplay. Questions like what does 'to protect the woman' in a relationship or the significance of a piece of paper to define your romantic connection is discussed in modern society where nuclear family is no longer the norm. So, this is not a love story. It's a story on navigating modern relationship, both platonic and romantic. It doesn't necessarily give you an answer but it treats the audience as intelligent and invites you to ask these questions yourself. This is probably one of the most thought-provoking dorama I've watched ever that questions self-love and the relationship without shoving an answer down my throat, which I so much appreciate and recommend this.

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Meloholic is the type of drama where you can skip half of the episodes and you'd still be able to understand what happened.
Why? Because it's a bunch of clichés thrown together with an unoriginal serial murder mystery, a dangerous mental illness that is taken as a joke, and a ridiculous love story.

Story/Plot
Pfft. Is there even a plot/story? From the first episode, you'd probably be able to predict the ending scene. There was an absence of character development and twists.
Ye Ri's DID was unrealistic, and portrayed as some sort of jest. Every aspect of it made me roll my eyes to another dimension, particularly when she "transformed".
The characters were copies of each other: bland, dense and slow. Even the killer was inadequate.
I couldn't believe in Ye Ri and Eun Ho's love, there was no build up and it seemed forced.

Acting/Cast
I have never watched a drama with U-know and Kyung Soo Jin, but it's pretty obvious to me that Kyung Soo Jin did a better job. At least she was able to play two distinct personalities.  U-know could barely act out his one character.

Music
Didn't really pay attention to the music. Actually, the only time I did when Another Miss Oh's OST was playing at Ye Ri's cafe.

Rewatch Value
Um.. No. There's no reason to watch it in the first place.

Overall
Meloholic is the perfect drama to watch when you're looking to facepalm, roll your eyes and curse at utterly stupid characters that lack common sense.

No, but seriously. Find something better to watch.

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Just finished this drama and have so much to say about it! Man From The Stars was a really good, one of the best this year, and I really enjoyed it. The plot was pretty interesting throughout. An alien living on our planet since 400 years and only after 400 years, when he's about to leave, he falls in love with Jun Ji Hyun's character. Kim Soo Hyun did a great job in this drama. The way he acted and presented himself, you could feel like you were looking at someone with a lot of life-experience. Someone you could call an old-soul. Honestly I've never had a crush on Kim Soo Hyun. But I've always admired his acting. He's one of the few actors who can move me with his crying. Seriously, the guy has some great crying skills that move me every time!

Coming to Jun Ji Hyun, she totally stole the show. I mean, I won't say she overshadowed Kim Soo Hyun exactly since he did hold his own, but her character made me laugh so much. Except this movie, I've only watched her in My Sassy Girl (best movie eveer) but these two works are enough for me to say that she's the reigning queen of Korean industry. Her style is just so irresistibly sassy (no pun intended).

I loved the side characters. Especially the guys. Hehe. Like seriously, her little bro was H-O-T. Same goes for the second lead. I loved the actor in My Daughter Seoyoung and I loved him equally here. Interestingly, he was supposed to play the psycho killer but thank the lords he didn't because he totally killed it with the lover boy character (again, no pun intended).

The music was alright for me. Overall I loved the drama and I might watch it again sometime. But there's just something that stops me from giving it a 10. Maybe it's the half-hearted ending or simply the fact that there are other dramas I'm more in love with than this one. Regardless, I would definitely recommend this drama to everyone. Especially for watching Jun Ji Hyun's awesome character :)

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Ok.... this drama was at the same time aweSOME and awFUL.

Until about episode 16 or so, it was mindblowingly good!
The main character is this crazy hero, who is so intelligent that he is practically an alien.
And love story is cute, although very expectable.
Ok, there were some minor flaws when it comes to the police work (like walking all over the scene of the crime and touching stuff etc.), but you can forgive such flaws, just like the bad acting of most of the foreign actors.
The intelligent plot is great to this point, but

THEN....

everything changes:

1) Right after they fall in love he just starts behaving like a normal person, thus looses all his
charming antisocial features.
2) Then comes the all-tying plot in, and it is so DAMN PREDICTABLE that I couldn't believe that
it comes from the same writers as before!
3) Everything becomes one huge ball of clichés, you expect this to happen, then that, and this again, and it all does. Freakingly disappointing!
4) And it starts to draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag... Seriously, from ep. 17 on I felt like watching something in slow motion.... because of the predictable "turns" it was even worse, not just the directing. The pace was totally off.

So - while the first arch of this drama was insanely good, the latter was so bad that I really had to
force myself to continue watching. Jeez, that was a pain in the butt.
The only good news: The last episode improved on that.
But the so charmingly outlandish main character was lost on the way.

The good part would get a 10 from me, the boring part a 6, thus it ends with an 8.

It is still worth watching, though.

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When I started this drama, I thought this was a Chinese version of the Korean drama Goblin. The male lead, Baiqi, is a cold and arrogant non-human stuck in the modern, which is very similar to the Korean version. The best thing about this drama is the comedy. Each character has its own version of comedy, and I truly enjoyed every part of it, especially Yang Jian and Heiqi, the evil version of Baiqi. Yangjian is developed pretty well throughout this drama, as he goes through two phases. He first learns that all spirits are not evil since when he wakes up, he literally starts hunting spirits. He discovers this by learning what Baiqi has done as a spiritual doctor. He then learns to love Xiaoxiao, which I treat as his second phase. He initially criticizes his fellow Heaven Soldier for falling in love with a human and loses his Penghai power, but in the end, he decides to lose his power and his only chance of going home to be with Xiaoxiao. Their relationship is one of the best I have seen and is just as important as Linxia and Baiqi's relationship.

The part I disliked the most was when Baiqi loses his memory, especially when this happens near the end of the drama. Memory loss is so common in dramas that it has just become an obvious route to move the story forward.

The three main characters, Yangjian, Baiqi, and Linxia all have very good character development throughout the story, and through good writing, allows me, as the viewer, to actually care about what happens in their life. The saddest part of the story is when Baiqi knows he will die if he continues to love Linxia. That part is very touching since he rather dies in love with Linxia than being separated from her.

Overall, I think this drama deserves high ratings and people should give it a chance. The music is great and the scenes/CGI are beautiful.

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10/10 will watch again

I haven't watched many Kmovies but I have watched many Kdrama. I should say that this movie is hilarious, very very funny. The joke is so fast and unexpected. The camera angle is so good.

In my perspective, Kdramas nature are switching between funny and serious but usually slow and dragging the story. For example Alchemy of Souls, business proposal, moving, 2521, etc.

But in this movie (because it's a movie too - 2 hours compared to 16-20 episodes of Kdrama) the story and joke is very fast and very often, and very chaotic. I'm enjoying it very much, I laughed so hard. Very worth watching, you will forget the real world you are living in that 2 hours.

I admitted that I'm Jung Somin's fan and I watched it because of that, but also credit to main actor, Kang Haneul. His acting and facial expression is as good as Jung Somin, what a perfect chemistry lol.

If you are Jung Somin's fan. YOU MUST WATCH THIS. Her acting are absolutely on point as always, and she's very HOT in this movie omg, I love her since BTIMFL then AOS but this movie makes me fall in love with her again. Her looks in this show is my most favorite compared to AOS, BTIMFL, Montly magazine, etc.

The reason I give 10/10 because I still don't have any point to complain. I will watch again for sure.

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i thought i will take a pass on writing review for this. but synopsis not entirely right and i think it should be good if one knows that its not a fun, cheerful movie, but is a dark one with sad ending that hits you hard.

we find 4 friends getting into hasty trip to drop one of them into military. but a mishap happens involving tragic turn in their lifes. so they fight, suffer, lose themselves and much more. what exactly happened? will they hang in there? will they stick together? will they be able to come out of this?

ji soo is incredible.he gave a soul stirring act here. i love all his characters in recent times. ryu joon yeol excelled in his own way. rest were really good too. the way they pictured their lifes is different to. the actors who played their parents were decent. i just love halmoni here. it was painful for me to watch her.

ending is sad, frustrating. yet i liked it. i love the way characters ended up realistically. its hard to digest. i wonder why i exactly i liked it. i love the way its not predictable. so yeah, watch this for good story packed up with great performances. its worth your time.

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