Reviews

STORY All viewers please come into The Pillow Book C-Drama erasing everything that you knew about their love story from 10 Miles of Peach Blossom C-Drama because much of that was made up. The production team didn’t have the rights to adapt the Pillow Book (their love story was very different in the first drama from what was actually in both novels i.e. 10 Miles of Peach Blossom and The Pillow Book). I’m loving this so far. It is more faithful to the actual Novel version. ?‍♀️ Thanks to the production team and actors! ?OMG!!!! I now know that this could end up being the 2020 series that gets me over my heartache from when ‘The Untamed’ ended. ? OTP It’s a delight to see Bai Feng Jiu studying, & cooking as well as her weaponry making & her sword fighting skills ⚔️. There is an amazing innate strength to her character so she is more rounded in this version. When she wants something and thinks it’s the slightest bit possible, she goes for it. Her tenacity is actually quite outstanding. However, when she believes it’s not possible, she let’s go. She’s not waiting for fate to define her. Also all we got in 10 Miles of Peach Blossom C-Drama was Bai Feng Jiu being doey eyed & moping around or mischievously stealing the lamp. Here, there is more depth with her motives and actions. She loves Donghua Dijun & wants to be with him, but she understands that this is very separate to the need for her to truly try and pay him back for saving her life. So far this drama is doing a good job showing how much as fairy of royal birth she sacrifices, struggles & suffers but still remains steadfast in all her efforts to pay back the strongest & most revered Imperial Majesty who is a god that ‘lacks nothing’. Moving on to Gao Wei Guang every action of his as this Donghua Dijun seems effortless & majestic. I don’t hear enough people talking about how good he is in this. He should be getting endless praise for this performance. It’s perfect. It’s great that we finally get to see Donghua Dijun truly fight. His true might!!! His power is immense & how he fights with such graceful and simple movements is impressive! CINEMATOGRAPHY The CGI is better quality than Season 1 for Ten Miles of Peach Blossom. Also the sets are more grand, as well as being more elaborate & intricate. The cinematography shown for this new series for Heaven and Qing Qiu is so much better. Just a personal opinion, Feng Jiu’s projected ‘dream-like bubble’ that she sits in when she’s a her fox form is a bit weird. OST 10 Miles of Peach Blossom OST was epic!!! This isn’t as good but it is definitely starting to grow on me! ACTING Everyone in the Heaven arc, even the new faces, in Heaven & Qing Qiu suit their part and act it out well especially if you compare their behaviours and relationship to how it is written in the novel. Zhong Li, Si Ming & Lian Song with Chen Yu are hilarious!!!! Seriously I’m loving everyone except I can’t quite get on-board with the new Zhe Yan. I still wish they had kept the original A-Li from 10 Miles of Peach Blossom too. They owned their roles. I love the new Bai Zhen. Also Bai Zhen casually challenging his worrying father was the interaction I didn’t even know I needed. I loved seeing the same actor back as Bai Zhi Dijun & his interactions with his grandkids. That whole Bai family ? are so amazingly cool! I also do like almost all the other demon lords, especially Demon Lord Nie. Their motives seem real and their acting is really good & not over the top. Everyone is great...but Yan Chiwu and the Miao Lui (Demon King) both over exaggerate their performances & so it comes off as cartoonish. It’s a shame. TIMELINE Bai Feng Jiu seems to be maturing quickly (not due to time with age) but because of her experiences. This story’s timeframe seems much shorter compared with watching Bai Qian’s story (spanning 70,000 yrs from Kulun). I’m also grateful this has less timeline errors. To be honest I had to switch off about ages of gods & timelines of key events during 10 Miles of Peach Blossoms C-Drama because they got it all so badly mixed up in the dialogue. It gave me a terrible headache. Here I’ve only found a small one in this drama which is easy to overlook so I’m so very happy. Although not key to this storyline, I like that some of the events that happen and/ or are mentioned overlap in both the 10 Miles of Peach Blossom C- Drama and The Pillow Book C-Drama. I personally prefer how this drama version has been depicting Dong Hua Dijun & Bai Feng Jiu’s relationship. It’s been so cool to see the source material come to life so I’m really curious & excited about the mortal arc and the dream-verse arc. Hamster428’s translated online version for The Pillow Book also helps contextually with how, why and when the likes of Chen Ye & Aranya (Alanruo) are born plus also Bai Gun Gun so I can’t wait to see how it’s done and the way their story concludes in this drama.

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Nonsense As Usual

So did Min Jun smile in this drama? Mfker walked around like he was allergic to happiness, like he loved being miserable and having a sad background story about his first love. Dude was out there acting like woe is him and heart break was made specifically for him. Give it a rest, Susan. Cuz what even was his problem towards the end? Jin Hwan a better person than me though, I'd have gotten on that plane. Go be incompatible in the corner with your foolishness.

And was I supposed to be happy for that airport scene? Literally this is what happened word-for-word. No, really, come see nonsense.

Min Joon: "You know, too. You and I are really incompatible. We will fight and get tired again. And we'd be worn out each time. You think everything would be possible now. But what if, I keep bringing up the past and ask why you acted that way angrily? Similar things keep happening. No one would be okay with that. And what if you keep doing that to me? I know myself well. I won't be able to stand it. You know how it'd end. And I know, too. Choi Jin Hwan. First love needs to be left as a memory. Stop. Please let me be free now. Please, just get out of my sight."

Jin Hwan: *confessing his love, begging, trying to reason, pleading.* Nothing works, he gets dumped, heart broken, he packed his suitcase, quit his job and decided to leave the country.

*Min Joon hears about it and runs to him at the airport. Cue a montage of their moments together and a sad song.*

Min Joon: "Choi Jin Hwan, what's with you? You changed your number and tried to disappear? You bastard. You and I are really incompatible. That is why I'll fight as many times as it takes. Even if you get tired, and beg me to let you go, I won't let go of you, okay? I know everything and I'm mad at you. I know things would get boring and obvious, but I like you so much that I'm going mad. I like you. So, don't go. As long as I am with you, everything is fine. I still like you."

Me: Thunder fire you and your ancestors' goat.

Cuz was that supposed to be romantic? I was making a face the whole time, rolling my eyes and just... why child, what even? Nonsense dey for some peoples backyard. Make someone's son come disturb my peace with this kind behaviour, na slap he go chop. Fool.

Listen, I liked the overall drama. Misunderstanding like this can happen, so I was enjoying the plot when the misunderstanding happened in ep1, I was like, oooh drama, sign me up. I was happy when they both found out that they've simply misunderstood each other. Enjoyed the in-between of getting to know how they got together, how they both loved but were shy, scared and didn't communicate enough so their first loved ended miserably for them both. Nice plot and drama, give me two more.

So yeah, after everything was cleared up between them, I was ready for these two to handle things as the adults they were, instead Min Joon acted like a broken spoon and decided to go with the annoying, childish, approach. Wth is your problem Susan? Like, why you causing unnecessary drama, Bob? So you got dumped one time, so what? Dude let his 2am thoughts won over his rational thoughts, and decided to frustrate us with his nonsense. Child if you don't go sit somewhere.

And, is the theme for this year's k-bl dramas misunderstandings? I wonder if the writers had a meeting and decided to frustrate us, while they laughed over soju. Cuz, again, why?

Anyway, a decent drama, give it a watch, it had its charm, but overall, the ending could have been done better, instead of whatever that was.

Once again, I say, k-bls needs to step up this year, like, why are you on the floor? It's only May.

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Love-Hate/Hate-Love Relationships; a Really Cunning(&Hot) Villain; Reincarnation; and Found Family

Summary:
- ANGST AND PAIN ㅠ_ㅠ
- Resentments and desire for revenge spanning a VERY LONG time.
- Hateful grievances and many misunderstandings
- Really amazing cinematography and backgrounds
- Phenomenal acting
- Really good chemistry. Also, NO KISS SCENES but there exist an overwhelming TENSION between them ♡
- Music filled with deep desire, yearning, and sad feels
- A truly beautiful found family trope story
- Highly recommended for supernatural and mystery lovers
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OVERALL: A must watch.
Bulgasal pull on your heart strings, its heart-wrenching from start to finish yet also beautiful and heartwarming at the same time. If you’re still contemplating to watch because of the mix reviews, you’ll miss a chance to watch this compelling and unique storyline. This may inevitably become one of my most favorite Kdrama, this really kept me on my toes every week. The Mystery propels the storyline onwards and it’s done well- atleast for me. Racked my brains for theories but 'the truth' still surpassed my expectations very well. If you can withstand crying and if you also don’t mind being a mad theorist while watching this drama, you’re in the right place. ♡

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The drama FOR REAL gives more questions than answers in its episodes yet strangely, I find myself enjoying every minute of this. It was slow-paced but all in all, I was never bothered by how the story moved forward towards the climax. Maybe you’ll also see romance in the scenes if you’ll expect it like me. This drama is also certainly not for the weak heart. There are a lot of painful moments, blood, murders, triggers and trauma too so be warned. Yet, many also have loved and investigated every details within each scenes in the drama- find them in discussions and on twitter and maybe you’ll be pulled in too. I love you all my fellow Bulgasal theorists! :**. The drama also centres around cherishing Bonds, a strong feeling of shared beliefs and experiences that unites the characters instead of pure romance only. Base on the interactions between the leads, there is definitely GREAT chemistry and romance blooming each episode. It is to my great relief that I found this drama on Netflix. I was searching for something to watch next after “The Silent Sea” due to the emptiness I felt and I never thought I would be pulled in for another lot of sadness.
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STORY: ♡
With the "Legend of Bulgasari" background alone, It is clear this drama might have a chance to be either definitely unique, thought-provoking and interesting or just end up being tagged as a wasted potential. And for me, this drama ends up within the former choice. First, the cinematography is astounding and second, the story- irresistible (yes irresistible, like the coffee you crave every morning).
There are misunderstandings, there’s a genius manipulator and also, hard to break grudges from the past. Be prepared for the 'racking your brain for answers part' while watching though lol. A lot have said this is only a romance with an enemies to lovers trope. But. It’s much more than that. There is familial love, friendship, and a valuable bond that connects each and every characters. I love every part of this drama. But the most memorable was that one scene where Hwal and Bulgalady met again as adults on EP1 on a hilltop and that other scene on EP11 where everyone started to feel like they lost a valuable treasure as they leave the house when in fact they only stayed there for less than a month.
As for the main lead’s relationship in the present lifetime, “… two deeply wounded people finding solace and warmth in each other”. I definitely agree with this beautiful comment of “Swan Song1” that Hwal and Sang Un’s relationship is NOT forced. Their relationship may have started with full of hate for each other but that didn't stop them from realizing the truth that their hate was only a misunderstanding- a result of the lies and manipulation fed to them by someone evil. After their reconciliation, they didn’t even notice that they became closer immediately. There’s already care and love for each other even from the start. So in my eyes, there’s sizzling chemistry between the leads. It all starts from a past-life revenge type and is slowly leading towards the healthy shared purpose type of relationship. All the relationships and characters in the drama were built upon solid storylines and past. Even the revelations are revealed to us slowly, PLAIN AS DAY and everything will MAKE SENSE in the end.

Soon, as you continue to watch, you’ll also realise that their future fate may inevitably have a painful end. Despite that, you may still end up loving everything.
I LOVE:: ♡ ♡ ♡
* EVERYTHING most especially EPISODE 11&12&14
* How Aunt Hye Sook went from an annoying shaman to a caring mother figure for the four orphans and how she’s always smiling and stays bright faced infront of Hwal because she thinks of him as a son. ㅠ_ㅠ
* How Hwal struggles with himself while being with Sang Woon-someone completely different from his expectations. Most importantly, I love how his heart greatly softened due to Sang Woon’s honest & compassionate personality, and love for him. :))
*How Sang Woon and Si Ho cares deeply about each other and how they act as a mother figure for each other.
*How Do Yoon loves his brothers in the orphanage and can do anything for them ;and also how he slowly but effectively warmed up and cared for the others in their Home.
* And how Sang Woon definitely isn’t perfect and doesn’t let her fear stop her from finding answers. She is dauntless but also jittery, she is constantly kind to those who help her even when she doesn’t have much. But it is her imperfections that make her amazing as a person. Kwon Nara (Uri Sang Woon) will make you cry a lot in here but you’d also see her smile a lot especially when she’s with her sister, Si Ho. Oh and she's GORGEOUS when she smiles.
* I also love how Dark Hole is always suffering -from his own inflicted actions. The writer did his character with much thought. The actor too, is for real prefect for a villain.

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ACTING/CAST: ♡
First, I want to compliment all the child actors/actress’. They deserve a lot of hugs and awards! They were really astounding in their acting!
*Actor Lee Jin Wook’s portrayal of Hwal - The mix of hate and doubt is visible in his actions, words and eyes. And when he’s with Sang Un, he will make you speechless. It’s not new to find a cold character in a drama but he is undoubtedly amazing as Hwal. I can’t imagine another Hwal other than him.
*Actress Kwon Nara(Sang Woon) is amazing. I only saw her on “Suspicious partner” but She portrayed Bulgasal and bubbly Sang Woon so well! I can clearly see the difference in the two characters she portrayed. Her eyes and facial expressions as BulgasaLady full of hate & hurt, as Hwa Yeon filled with anxiety and the bubbly Sang Yeon were spectacular for me. Most importantly, she looks REALLY stunning!
*Actor Lee Joon(Ok Eul Tae/Dark Hole). Just Wow. I didn’t even notice he was the Lieutenant in “The Silent Sea”! His acting will give you goosebumps. For real.
*Actor Kim Woo Seok (Do Yoon/A’Chan) He did REALLY well. I did not even know that this was his first role despite being an idol! You’ll really love and care for Do Yoon a lot with his amazing portrayal of the character. <3
*And our Gong Seung Yeon(Si Ho)! I was shocked to see her as a mother! She portrayed it very well, I rooted for her happiness, I cried when she cried and I even started shipping her with Hwal too. *ahem*
When all of them gather in their house ( except Dark Hole HAHA) , I promise that you won’t be able to avoid the feeling of warmth and comfort in you heart.

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If I were to describe the main character's lives in one quote, I'd choose Gena Showalker's: “They gave each other what no one else had ever been able to give. A past to cherish. A present to enjoy. A future to anticipate.”

I will really miss this drama and everyone who discussed with me here AND ON TWITTER. I love you all and I hope we’ll meet again in another drama.


EDIT (6/29/2023):
I remember I was very emotional when I made this review while watching the drama. It was a fun ride discussing about the theories with fellow MDLers and the people on Twitter. I now reread my review after almost two years, and I realized giving this that kind of rating was indeed too subjective of me. However, I did ponder a lot for days before I did this review and I still think this deserves a 10. I really enjoyed the drama a lot (especially the phenomenal acting from Ok Eul Tae) first time. It's fine if you do not agree with me and my bad if this was not a satisfying review for you. But if you made it to the end of this review, thank you and have a great day. ♡

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P. S. After seeing this review got more attention than expected, I knew I should take responsibility and make my rating more accurate. I didn't want to put a big expectation to this drama from new watchers. So I ended up rewatching and finally edited my ratings. I only hope old readers won't get dissapointed in me after this fickle move. Much love to those who liked/still like this review!

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GARBAGE ON STEROIDS!

***DISCLAIMER: These are just my thoughts on the show as a whole. We don’t have to agree and I’m not here to argue with anyone.***

AND THE AWARD FOR WORST KDRAMA OF 2023 GOES TO STRONG GIRL NAM SOON!!!!! (Except nobody is smiling, cheering or clapping and all you hear are crickets)

THIS SHOW IS SOOOOO BAD I WANT TO GIVE IT A ZERO BUT THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE SO I GIVE IT A ONE. It is the definition of unserious. Though this review may come off like I’m hating (which I most definitely am) it’s also plenty of shock and disappointment.

I had high hopes going into this and it just did not meet the mark AT ALL. Let's get into it...

This show lacked depth. The plot made no sense whatsoever and you basically have to turn off your brain to watch it. The focus shifted from Nam Soon to the mother, Geum Ju, and her heroic tendencies / saviorism, and unwavering determination to bring down Pavel and the Korean drug cartel. Even Nam Soon's grandma and her whole love affair got more attention than her. To say this drama did not live up to the hype or potential would be an understatement.

All the characters were unlikeable except for Nam Soon (earlier episodes) and Shi Oh… at least when he was around Nam Soon he didn’t treat her like a 5 year old. I sort of feel like her being childish / silly with him was healing his inner child so I was happy to see him smile and be content with her. I also liked Nam Soon's father... he was so supportive and seemed to genuinely care for his children unlike the mother who was always working / busy and could never see what was going on under the surface or spare five minutes of her time to get to know them better. Geum Ju was a horrible mother and I will not stop saying it. Her over the top emotions and tears coming out whenever her children were in danger and on the verge of death says so much. I don't even want to get into her fat phobic / insensitive comments and how that took a toll on her Nam In's mental health. While this show masked it as humor, it was in poor taste because it just was not funny at all.

It is safe to say I wasted almost 2 months of my life watching this tom foolery. That’s time I will never get back. The last 2 episodes were absolute bullshit and they lost the entire plot. Tell me why Ryu Shi Oh died by suicide within 20-25 mins of episode 16, Bread Song turned out to be Nozh, Grandma was supposed to die and didn’t and Nam Soon who is such a half witted, untrained and reckless girl became a cop? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

Ugh and don’t get me started on Hee Sik’s gold digging family, Nam Soon’s mom flaunting her wealth and the obvious lack of chemistry between Nam Soon and Hee Sik. That last kiss was an immediate no, no hate to Yoo Mi, but why did she kiss him like she was eating noodles??! Everything about that kiss seemed weird / unnatural and awkward. Anyway I know people who shipped them from the get go would have eaten it up, but it just was so cringe in my opinion.

It's the way they tried to outdo SWDBS and FAILED. Again, you seriously can't outdo the doer and this show is proof of that. The plot was lackluster / sucked big time, the acting was over the top and it seemed like they were putting on a comedy sketch (a seriously bad one) rather than a serious drama / tackling real issues. Except for Ryu Shi Oh, the characters were dull, one-dimensional, and devoid of depth. Nam Soon was even more childish at the end than at the beginning. When she received her award, she acted like an immature hyperactive toddler / a crazy person in serious need of a mental facility. Not to mention her continual lifting up of Hee Sik (bridal style) was another a major turn off. I need someone to me why she was always acting RIDICULOUS?! My goodness, it was like she didn’t have an off switch and was always behaving like damn fool or a deer in the headlights. She appeared to always be on drugs and that’s putting it LIGHTLY. If you told me she snorted 5 lines of COCAINE and also did METH or MDMA I WOULD BELIEVE YOU! In my opinion, Nam Soon doesn't appear mature enough for a relationship, let alone marriage... and when Hee Sik eventually proposed – it was so underwhelming. NEXT!

I could not feel anything for the main couple or root for their happiness because there was no development whatsoever, it felt like they just forced their relationship down my throat. Nam Soon clearly had better angst / chemistry with Shi Oh and it was easier to see their potential because they had so many good moments together. Even Bread Song and the mom had more tension filled interactions – which is saying so much. The way the proposal was at the same cherry blossom tree as in SWDBS was a major eye roll moment. Also, the stupid, overbearing heartfelt moments between the Joong Gan and Jun Hee like? PLEASE SPARE ME. LITERALLY NOBODY WANTED TO SEE THAT. Even in the end, they attempted to build up the suspense and make it appear as if it would be the death of her character after she had used a lot of her power, but they still let her survive. It would have been more dramatic if she had died... and Jun Hee and her ex-husband were obliged to mourn her together.

I still can’t believe Jun Hee was just a bland / flavorless and spineless character (literally such a freaking simp) had no connection to the Russian mafia and didn’t turn out to be a secret bad guy. THAT WAS SUCH A MISSED OPPORTUNITY. The fact that he was just there to be Joong Gan’s sidekick and lover sent me over the edge. The amount of screen time the grandma's whole arc took up just because the writer was trying to live vicariously through her character was so annoying!

Additionally when Nam Soon and her adoptive mom both happened to nearly be killed by bombs was just so predictable. Your telling me the writers couldn’t have come up with a better plot?! Even bringing in this new guy to play adult Bin Bin at the end was strange – he had no connection to the people we previously knew and never popped up in the story before (at least not as an adult), so it was difficult for me to feel pity or anything else for him. Yes, he spared Shi Oh’s life by not betraying him / killing him as ordered and that was the only bonus. Everyone literally thought Bin Bin would have been either Bread Song or the kind man at Opulentia helping Geum Ju out with her investigation. AGAIN, ANOTHER MISSED OPPORTUNITY.

The only thing I liked about this drama was the fact that the girl vagrant took the money back from the male vagrant after he discarded her / threw her to the waste side. I have been praying on his downfall ever since he broke up with her and I’m glad to see he lost everything in the end and ended up penniless and homeless while she was free to live her best life without him. I also liked when Nam Soon's father suggested that all the single males live together. I could definitely see it because they would have started their own "weak men" empire (for lack of a better name) or something like that! Now that is something I'd watch. When Nam In said te refused to live with them out of fear of ending up like them I DIED, he was so real for that!

Needless to say I really HATED this drama and would never watch it again. I would rather kill myself or rip out my eyeballs instead. Even banging my head repeatedly on the wall would be better than rewatching this ridiculous parody. I stuck around for Shi Oh and in the end they gave him the worst possible death, no redemption arc and completely ruined his character. He had so much potential to be a better person and a changed man but the writers destroyed everything. I still refuse to believe he actually tried to kill Nam Soon and her family when he found out her identity. Though, what is enemies to lovers without both parties trying to kill each other? (iykyk) It’s even more sad when you think about the fact that he tried to help his birth father out and even bought an orphanage and turned it into a boxing gym. I won't stop saying it but – RYU SHI OH DESERVED SM BETTER THAN THE HAND HE WAS DEALT!

Anyway, I guess they just couldn’t allow him to live after he spiraled, went off the rails and took so many innocent lives. What gets me is that Geum Ju and Nam Soon believed Hwa Ja was capable and worthy of being saved but they could not extend the same right or courtesy to Shi Oh. I mean seriously? Hwa Ja even tried to murder Nam Soon at one point…. just because she was unsuccessful in her attempt does not make what she did excusable or justifiable. I don’t care what anyone else says but the fact that Nam Soon’s mom forgave her after all that and basically adopted her as a daughter was absolutely insane and I will never understand it. This show proves that Geum Ju's and Nam Soon's empathy is conditional on whether they feel pity for someone's situation or not. Ryu Shi Oh never chose this life and it's unfair because he had gone through so much as a child to just hang on / survive. Literally everything he did was just so he could finally escape / find a way out from Pavel's control. He was a victim or circumstance but the stupid characters in this show could not even see that. It's ironic because when they were starting to realize at the end it was ALREADY TOO LATE.

My favorite character was and always will be Ryu Shi Oh. They could never make me hate him! I understood all his motives and rooted for him endlessly — even when he was on his killing spree. Honestly he was not evil enough in my opinion. I’m not gonna lie, if I lived his life I would’ve been worse. It’s unfortunate Byeon Woo Seok was not enough to save this drama and make me turn a blind eye to how horrible the overall production and acting was. If the writers had gone with an enemies to lovers plot / dark romance, this show would have been so much better. I mean – most people were watching for the villain and rooting for him instead of the ML or even Nam Soon and her family. This drama was way too childish, and it was difficult to find benefits or reasons to stay. Each episode progressively got worse, and I had to force myself to watch for the sake of completion.

I sincerely hope the writer gives up and just ends this TRAIN WRECK / TOILET FIRE IMMEDIATELY. This shit show does not need a part 3 or spin-off. Whatever she writes next she will ruin it even further and it would just be wise of her to stop now.

I could have lived my life without watching this drama or knowing it was a sequel to the original Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. If you are contemplating starting this because you liked SWDBS, I suggest and strongly advise you skip this drama entirely and watch some edits instead. Their five minute screen time is not worth over 18 hours of torture and misery. Please save yourself and quit while you are ahead.

If you think I'm lying / joking then watch this circus act and see for yourself.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.

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P.S. No hate to new watchers or persons who enjoyed this drama. I'm happy for you, truly. I'm glad some people were lucky enough to be warned beforehand and able to go into this with very very very LOW expectations.

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(If you actually made it this far ilysm!)

(づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡


As always,

Thanks for reading & happy watching!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

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A drama I came to watch with zero expectations

I love drama plots with zombies and aliens. But after reading the synopsis and seeing the cast I didn’t expected a lot from this drama. I thought that maybe this is another drama trying to ride the big wave of zombie drama success.

Maybe it is because I came with zero expectations but this drama is just too good. It didn’t had that amount of hype like All of us are dead but according to me this is better than All of us are dead . It is a bit different as it is an Alien invasion sort of a drama than to a zombie drama.

This drama felt more realistic to me than most of the other zombie/alien apocalypse dramas out there. It has quite a good amount of characters in it. Which could have gone wrong. But each character is unique and is given quite a fair screen time. This drama shows us all emotions of greed, fear, happy, grateful,sad, hopeful, kindness. The cast did an amazing job in portraying their characters well. And left us with an amazing first half of the drama. I binge watched the whole part in a single sitting. And will do so for the second part too.

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A chill drama for you to enjoy!

I got hooked watching the trailer because Gushengnan sang “Big bowl noodles” by Kris Wu and ya girlie is an EXO-L so i started watching it, i watched all 10 episodes in just 1 day, yes i binge watched it and its really worth it! The story flows really smoothly. Every scene gives me joy and their great chemistry was beyond expectations even with the age gap (21 and 36) being portrayed. Their OST really shocked me because a lot of it is sang in english which is weird since its a chinese drama. Addition to that There’s always humor in every episode!! So i really recommend it if you like story without big problems or just want a smooth going story about how the two got together. Its still on going and I’m every excited to watch the rest !

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This drama is so poignant and beautiful. It shows how to appreciate life and celebrate it. This drama is all about dying to live and living to die. We all die someday but learning how to live is what's important. That's what this drama stresses about. I don't know how many times I cried watching this. Till the end this made me cry not because it's sad but beautiful.

Started as a comedy it turned into pure melo. This is slow-paced yet beautifully done. Son Mu Han really grew on me.

Coming to the acting this is my first drama of Kam Woo Sung. He did exceptionally well. I'm going to check out his other works. Kim Sun Ah as always she nailed it. (I'm a fan of her.) Their chemistry is no joke. All portrayed their roles well.

Music is so good. No matter how good the drama is if there's no good music it won't be remembered well. This drama has many beautiful tracks. Totally loved the music.

Whenever I feel down will re-watch this for sure. It made me feel optimistic about life.

Beautiful story, beautiful acting, beautiful music and beautiful cinematography. That's what Should We Kiss First? is.

P. S: Loved the 'City Hall' references. The city hall station and the beauty pageant.

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Soulful and at the same time ruthless KMovie at its finest

Wonderful actors are showing us their full range in "My 11th Mother" / "11th Mom." It's a shame that we haven't seen much from the young talent Kim Young-chan since then... Together with Kim Hye-soo, he offers chamber theater at its finest, going under the skin for long stretches. Here, action takes place inside sort of. So even though without much (seemingly) happening on the outside, time flies by just like that.

In this KMovie with deliberate realistic appeal, South Korea shows one of its rather bleak living environments at the lower end of the social pyramid. "11th Mom" offers space for a twisted, basic, yet truthful love amidst a fundamentally desolate setting in this rundown neighborhood of Seoul, where there seems to be no place for the sun to shine. Thus, eventually the faces of the hopeless nevertheless start to shine, too. All of a sudden, their everyday life is no longer just dull, as there is actually some happiness for the protagonists coming along their path. True enough, there is still plenty of sad stuff going on, however there is this joy all around the awareness of being loved, too.

The bonding between the eleven-year-old Jae-su and his 11th stepmother-against-her-will is giving both their lives direction, is offering warmth, and is even healing their wounded hearts. Actually that much so that the tormented Jae-su can somehow forgive his blustering, abusive, gambling-addicted, screwed and irresponsible father in the end.

Soulful and at the same time ruthless KMovie at its finest! Despite plenty of makeup, we are presented with unadorned, bruised, yet amazingly still intact human hearts. Fantastic: the finely nuanced, rough, and at the same time frail rapprochement between Jae-su and his stepmother against expectation.

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Heartwarming Family Drama

The drama with the highest rating of the season. And it deserved it. Not only because Ayase Haruka is and will be forever Japan's favorite girl, but because this was funny and sweet and with zero drama and a real representative of a Japanese Slice of Life Drama.

The story is divided in two parts, so it was like Season 1 and Season 2 together. From ep01 to ep05 is one timeline, and from ep06 to 10 is another, 9 years later (that was a total surprise for me!). I adored "Season 1" and it was my favorite. Akiko-san trying, first, to be accepted as a stepmom to Miyuki, and then, her first duties as a mother. I love the little girl who played Miyuki (Yokomizo Naho), awesome actress! She behaved like a little girl behaves, not like a smart-ass girl who talks like an adult. My favorite episodes were 2 and 3: ep2 because I loved the little "game" Akiko-san and Miyuki played at the supermarket, and ep3, because of the "battle" of Akiko against the Parents Association.

Ep 06 was a total shock to me because of the time-slip and because of... well, change of actors. Still, the actress who played older Miyuki was really good and likeable (Hiroki-kun too. Both boy and older boy are so cute!), and some of her expressions resembled her younger-self (both girls have big eyes). I liked how Akiko-san starts working again; her role in the bakery was amazing, totally plausible. I love how everything she does, it is because she is thinking in her daughter. And everything Miyuki does, she always has her stepmom in mind. They may not be blood-related, but their love for each other was as strong as a blood-related mother and daughter have.

If there has to be a minus it would be that Akiko-san looks the same after the time-slip. Same as Shimoyama-san (even the highlights in her hair...)

In spite of the many comedic scenes, there were also some touching scenes :( I am still not sure of the ending, only because I did not fully understand it. I know that it was a "miracle" too, but why? What does the train ticket mean??

All actors were excellent, except for Takeru Sato. I think goofy roles don't suit him. I noticed that some "cool" actors, like him, do wonderfully in action and cool roles, but when it comes to goofy roles... nah. And too bad he had to go and fall in love. I mean, it provided many funny scenes XD but Akiko-san and Ryuchi forever <3 And I was disappointed since I truly thought he was going to be some kind of angel, the one who was going to bring a miracle into Akiko-san's and Miyuki's lives. I guess he sort of did, but not the way I wanted. And at the end, it was really Akiko who was like a miracle to him.

The little touches, like the miracles (I thought it was going to have a bigger role, like **coughcoughthefathercoughcough**), and minor characters, like Taguchi-kun, were very nice. I actually laughed out loud several times with Taguchi-kun, he was a silly sweetheart :)

The OST was excellent, I want it. And the funny one made the scene even funnier XD I did not pay attention to the ED song tbh.

So overall, first part is a 10 and second part is a 9 for me. I love this kind of "non-drama" drama :D

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I simply started this drama because it seemed like a rom-com with a perfect twist of fantasy. And fantasy dramas have a way of pulling me towards them like no other genre.
When it comes to J-dramas, I would fall into the 'beginner' category. So while I won't be able to tell you how good or bad it was as compared to other typical J-dramas, I'll try my best to tell you what I enjoyed in this drama.


THE STORY:
The plot-line of the drama is certainly a unique one. It's not everyday you see a drama where God Himself appears to help two people fall in love.
The drama follows Makoto who seemingly has the worst luck when it comes to women. It's not until a person claiming to be God appears before him that he finds out why. According to God, Makoto's bad luck in women is because he hasn't met his 'soul-mate' yet. Imagine his surprise when he finds out that his destined person works in the same office building as him, and they have met several times before, even without both of them knowing. Now, when it comes to making her fall in love with him, well, that's no easy feat, giving the fact that she cringes at the word 'destiny' alone.


THE CHARACTERS:
There are 3 main characters for this- Makoto (male lead), Haruko (female lead) and God.
-Makoto's character was a dedicated one. He was ready to do just about anything to make Haruko fall in love. And not just with her, his efforts to win over Haruko's dad as well as her best friend, were really commendable.

-Haruko's character may seem a bit annoying, at first, given that she pushes away our main lead repeatedly, when we know that he's such a good person. But try to imagine the situations from her perspective. A stranger comes along, and says stuff about them being 'destiny', her reaction was completely logical. Ofcourse, the circumstances in which her previous relationship ended, sure didn't help the situation, either. Despite of it all, she came to know him as a person and finally

-God's character was....awesome. He was my favorite character in the drama. And that's all I can say without spoiling anything.

-The supporting characters like Sadaoka, Sekihara, Mitsue etc, were also really interesting to watch. Specially their comedy parts.


THE PACING:
-The drama consisted of only 10 episodes. And the pacing was good.
-The twist they pulled out in the last few ep...Did not see it coming. It was perfect.
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THE CON(s):
- Even though I understood the decisions the female lead male, her character was still somewhat frustrating. It just felt like her indecisive phase stretched for a bit too long.
-Unfortunately, for me, the bromance eclipsed the romance part of the drama. Although, that's not to say that the romance part was not interesting. But more like, I loved the bromance way more than the romance.
-This one is not really a con, but I wish they'd shown more of Ichirou in the last ep.


All in all, this was an enjoyable watch. I hope you give this a try.
Happy Watching!

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This drama was interesting, and I liked it, but I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. The first episode was utterly adorable and cute. While the rest of the story had its cute and interesting moments, I felt that it didn’t quite live up to the promise of the first episode.

I understand that the drama is special because it is collaboration between Japan and Korea, and it shows that the relationship between these two countries is complicated, which makes the relationship between the two main characters complicated as well. That’s why I felt that I learned a few things from it, but I wish the conflict had been explored more; that the story had been deeper. I won’t go as far as calling it plot holes, but near enough…

The basic plot is good – two young people from different countries meet and fall in love, only to discover that being in a relationship isn’t always easy. Especially not a long distance relationship, since that is another complication in and of itself. However, I feel that the story was too rushed. Sometimes, the characters did and said things that didn’t quite make sense, and many of the expected misunderstandings and conflicts seemed stupid and plain ridiculous, because it was hard to understand the character’s motivations. If the characters had talked more with each other, and explained their ways of thinking (and not to mention the differences in their respective cultures) it would have been easier to relate to them and that would in turn have made the drama more interesting to watch. I feel that we are expected to understand everything without any explanations, but just like Tomoko, I found myself confused a lot of the time.

I liked the acting, though. The actors did a good job, and this was the first time I watched anything Korean (MDL has labelled this as “Japanese”, but they do speak Korean about half the time) so it was interesting because of that, too.

So, to sum it up: the drama had its good points, the ending was satisfactory and the first episode was excellent. Overall, though, I found it to be a bit disappointing, and I wouldn't want to re-watch it because I would only be annoyed by the same things all over again.

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Royal Feast is a good drama

After watching this drama for a while, I must admit it is a good drama. I didn't like it that much in the beginning but continued watching it because of Xu Kai. Over time as I watched more and more, I got the theme of the drama and I started really liking it. This drama gets better and better. In the middle it was kind of frustrating on the interaction between the leads; but after episode 32 or so, things smoothed up. I think it's because the drama is supposed to follow a history line and one must have some background on what went on behind the characters or real people portrayed by the FL and ML. Now, it does requires a good understanding of Chinese, I felt it uses a very highly complicated language in the beginning of the drama. I think not having a good translation may have had added the frustration of some audiences. On my own, I'll give it a 9.9 :D

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Many plot twists.

Like this is one of the best drama's I've seen but I wouldn't say that it meets up to my expectations. it is pretty good and as a person who hates sad endings I would recommend you guys to watch this. but I wouldn't say that this is a highly recommended drama. it is kinda hard to explain but no hate. it is 😬. yeah. but I would say I like the acting and the song in this. the story is good but I would suggest that if some changes would have been there, I would love it. this is just a viewer's opinion. it is quite funny like when Lee dong wook shii and gong yoo shii being funny and it feels like if they're in love. I actually like it but not love it. just my opinion. no hate. this drama is actually pretty good but I wouldn't recommend it for newbies to kdrama.

~no hate. a goblin lover

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