Reviews

Like a pack of dry cookies that are strangely addicting, even though they taste like nothing.

I know it’s a drama loved by many, but I’m sadly not in that camp. I still enjoyed it quite a lot, it just never truly moved me that much, and I think that was supposed to be the biggest selling point - how touching it is.

I think the biggest reason I did not fall in love with the drama itself is the fact I never fell in love with two main characters - Choi Woong and Gook Yeon Soo. I was indifferent about them as individuals and completely not interested in them as a pair. Something about how they were written did not click with me.

On the other hand, I adored so many supporting characters with Kim Ji Woong being easily my favorite. Both episodes focused on his point of view were in my perspective the most interesting and engaging. I know for a fact I liked him so much because I related to him in many areas, but that’s the strength of the drama - they present many unique, but realistic characters, I’m sure everyone would find one to relate to.

I’m quite sad how little they showed of NJ. There was not one scene of hers that was boring, some were quite meaningful. I appreciate how they never made her a typical toxic second female lead - her perspective on the whole situation was refreshing.

While I understand the drama portrays a lot of important life lessons that young people face - from teens to late twenties, I weirdly never connected to this presentation. Sure, there were some scenes that were memorable, but overall I don’t think I’m going to remember much after a few months.

Performances? Phenomenal from the whole cast. Exactly zero complaints. The emotional scenes were done well, the comedic bits were truly funny, not one character was miscast.

Overall, while my brain understands why many people loved this show, my heart does not follow.

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A beautifully presented story!

This was my first time watching an airing costume drama so in the beginning I was a little hesitant as I thought I may lose interest in the midway. But this drama did not let that happen. I was always anticipated for the new eps and this drama had become my routine everyday.
The chemistry between the leads was amazing. Even tho the drama had minimal skinship but still their chemistry captured our hearts till the end.
This drama has so many positives like there are so many couples that I lost count lol. There is no unnecessary misunderstandings , no love triangle , not a major annoying character.
Now if we talk about the leads the way the FL was shown so mature that she has become one of my favorite characters in a drama. Ofcourse we know that Zhang Jing yi never disappoints. Also the ML's actings has improved so much which was a delight to watch.

I'd like to end my review with the line I liked the most ,
"I hope the wind delivers my love to you."

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This is how you (almost) score your own goal

This show is not particularly pretentious, and the early indication is a contract marriage trope with bonus cute little kids. The FL is a struggling single parent, but she is trying her best. The ML is the typical cold but super competent CEO who is also a single parent. After a series of fateful meetings and the odd accidental skinship later, they are married but not a couple. Easy peasy.

In fact, for a good 3/4 of the run, the show is motoring along very nicely. Their romantic journey is swoon-y and developing well. The little kids are not bothersome like some other dramas, and they add some colour to the mostly by-the-book main storyline. There is a hint of a revenge plot, but the general outlook is rosy.

This is where some iffy writing starts to rear its ugly head and almost scored an own goal. I’m keeping this spoiler free, so I'll talk in general terms.

The first problem is the portrayal of the leads. The FL is sweet and empathic, but she has a lot of self-doubt and can be easily swayed. On the other hand, the ML is smart but have very poor communication skills. This is a bad combo because it means misunderstanding can be just one scene away and any misstep escalates quickly.

This is not helped by poor communication between the protagonists. The ML, the grandfather, the FL's parents all withholding vital information and keeping secrets from each others. This only serves to pour oil on the fire of misunderstanding once there is a spark. Honestly, this is such a lazy trope but without it, there is almost no plot. Ouch!

Furthermore, the antagonist's motivation is a bit opaque. We are told one thing but snippets of information point to another. His mental state also casts a lot of doubt about what are facts and what might be his imagination. This is obviously done by the writer to keep us guessing and to create tension. Unfortunately, this part of the main plot is weak and loaded with inconsistencies and shortcuts. We are fed bits of information to try to paper over gaps in the narratives. For instance, one of the key characters is found to be adopted and her behaviour is all blamed on her time in the welfare home. Ditto pieces of damning info happen to fall into the wrong hands. Where did they come from? There are other contrivances, but I would be giving the main plot away.

Obviously, the writer is trying to shape the plot in a certain way, but it feels unnatural and leaves the viewer baffled and a bit frustrated. The drama would be better off without the revenge plot. The show doesn't need one and it derailed the main plot for little gain.

Acting wise, the FL is fine but her role is not well written. The ML’s visual is idol grade but his acting skill is still developing. There are times when he just looks uncomfortable and a bit lost.

The support cast is actually quite good. The SFL who started off chasing the ML but becomes the FL’s bestie is quite endearing. The 2CP works too. A bit kooky at times but their journey is heartfelt, and I can ship them. The senior cast members pull their weight and provided some stability.

I didn't have high hopes for the show at the beginning. I was hooked by mid show, but they lost me towards the end. The HEA ending and fan service helps to restore some faith. It is watchable and largely inoffensive. I just wish they'd leave well enough alone. Peace out.

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this drama's story was slightly common. younger man, older woman love blossoms. unfortunately the chemistry was just non-existent. it was just a good comedy to me and nothing more than that. It is a drama that raises some questions about relationships but other than that it only had to offer the comedic moments. it is an easy watch though, you can quickly finish it and it definitely has a generally good acting. however shinohara kyoko alone can't give this drama a 10/10 for acting. Akanishi Jin was just terrible with a character that has no development at all. if you want to watch something that doesn't really make you think too much and it is easy then this is probably your cup of tea.

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None of these characters are likable.

Major spoilers are ahead...

The FL, So Rin, is a fan of ML, Lucie, her idol while she's in high school, and she accidentally meets him without even believing it's him. They spend one night hanging out and the next night, she's supposed to go to a meet and greet with the real "Lucie." During this time she's also trying to audition to become an idol trainee.

Si Woo is best friends with So Rin along with their other friend mutual friend, Ye Seung and they enjoy their friendship going along with So Rin's fangirling. Si Woo secretly harbors a crush on So Rin, and together, they both win tickets to Lucie's meet and greet. While Si Woo takes both of them there on his bicycle, on the way, they're stuck by an oncoming vehicle which results in So Rin being hospitalized.

Lucie in the meantime keeps looking for So Rin at his fan meet to let her know it was really him that she met the night before. But of course, she doesn't show up. Lucie goes back to the US.

Fast forward to a few years later, Si Woo has become an idol. A decision he made for So Rin, who mentioned in the past, that if he auditioned to be an idol, they could go through it together. Feeling guilty about So Rin's accident, Si Woo becomes driven and motivated to become an idol.

But while Si Woo becomes an idol in a k-pop group, "N and S", So Rin, who suffers from severe tinnitus and dizziness, can no longer dance because of these symptoms. These came from a result of her accident but the tinnitus that she suffers from seems to be more psychologically stress-related. Although she no longer pursues the dream of becoming an idol, she works closely with Si Woo at the same agency. Their mutual friend, Ye Seung also works as a driver for the same agency. After all this time, Si Woo still hasn't told So Rin about his feelings for her.

Lucie comes back to Korea to do a collaboration with Si Woo. But Lucie goes under hardships as he is accused of tax evasion. It turns out his manager took all his money as Lucie wasn't planning to sign with him anymore. He has no choice but to collab with Si Woo and his agency. Broke and displaced in Korea, So Rin takes him in, and later, Lucie finds out that So Rin was the fangirl he met that night.

So now, here starts the love triangle... where the girl is so clueless and oblivious that these guys like her, and honestly, the story doesn't develop enough as to why these guys like her.

You can understand why Si Woo could like So Rin because after all, they grew up together as best friends, but why he takes so long to tell her is beyond me. So now Lucie enters the picture and now we just have to sit through these guys being competitive for So Rin while she doesn't have a clue. But honestly, you feel nothing for these three characters. So Rin comes off as under deserving of Si Woo's interest actually. It seems like he does more for her than she does for him. He's always checking in on her. And as for Lucie, he's just too arrogant for anyone to like him.

I find this to be a slow-paced drama. So far I'm on EP 12 and only now, are they just starting to dig into whether or not So Rin should pursue her dream as an idol. They had a few flashbacks of her trying again after her accident but nothing came of it. I don't know how, by the next two episodes, we're supposed to believe that all of a sudden, So Rin will become an idol. I think that even mentioning this in the detailed summary of this show is kind of misleading. Even the title, "Miracle" makes no sense.

So with only 14 episodes, I don't know how much progress we'll see after since the episodes are short. They're trying to show more scenes of Lucie and So Rin together as they have some "let's stare at each other with OST playing" moments. He seems to coincidently show up as he stalks her when she's having bad symptoms. But Si Woo has also been there for her so you don't know why the showrunners don't give Si Woo and So Rin more "tender moments". If you going to do a love triangle, do it somewhat properly.

There are other side stories, like Lucie's disappearing manager, another female k-pop group in which one member, Ju Ah crushes on Si Woo, and there's even some tension within Si Woo's group, N and S. The leader of N and S, Do Un wants to be an actor but only Si Woo got offered a leading role in a drama. This made Do Un jealous. But with these short episodes, their stories aren't interesting enough. Everyone seems miserable and it's not just from suffering through some hardships, it's more like everyone is miserably jealous of someone else.

The acting of everyone isn't that great so it makes it harder to enjoy this show and the singing and dancing are all subpar. Who wants to watch a show with two guys just constantly glaring at each other? It just makes this show drag on even slower.

I'll update this later if necessary.

UPDATE:
A week after the last two episodes already aired, I finally decided to dive back in and finish up the series. And... that's it. The end. (That's how exciting it was.)

I don't know what direction the writers decided to take in the last two episodes but it got pretty negative and dark all of a sudden. Ju Ah, crushes on Si Woo, finally confesses to him. He doesn't return her feelings and when he tells her he likes someone else, she's like, "So what?" I mean, why do they write women with like no dignity or pride? And if she's so close to debuting, it makes no sense why she would even be entertaining the idea of pursuing someone or even dating for that matter. Zero sense. She would just be focusing on debuting.

Then she finds out that So Rin is coming back as a trainee and now she's even more frustrated and upset. So much so that she injures herself while practicing and for good measure, the writers threw in some pills she suddenly seems dependent on.

Then all of a sudden, we find out that besides Do Un, another member of N and S, Ik Chan, also has a problem with Soo Win. Like where did this guy come from? And... they finally caught Lucie's scheming manager. And... So Rin finds out it was really Lucie she met that night. And... Lucie finds out about the accident happening that same night and why Si Woo dislikes him.

And... all this in one episode. And... it was still boring.

By the last episode, some crazy sasaeng of Si Woo tries to throw acid on So Rin but Lucie saves her by blocking it. So now we got acid folks. That's some pretty damaging and dark stuff. Like I was shocked by it. Acid is some pretty serious sh*t and it just didn't feel like it belonged in this kind of drama. It was really out of place. I felt for a moment that I was watching some Bollywood drama for a second there. It turns out that Do Un planted an idea in Ju Ah's head to post pictures of Si Woo and So Rin online as if they were dating. So that's why the jealous sasaeng showed up.

What's worse is that management finds out what Ju Ah and Do Un did and yet nothing happened to them. Management was like, " Oh we didn't know they were hurting. Let's just sweep everything under the rug and everyone make up." Seriously... W...T...F??? A crazy sasaeng was charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder for hurling ACID, because of what Ju Ah and Do Un conspired and nothing happens to them? Especially Do Un who was the mastermind. You would've thought that Si Woo would've been really angry at him since the sasaeng targeted So Rin. Whatevs dude.

Anyways, So Rin has a spot in a voice competition but she pauses during her live performance because of her tinnitus, but the guys are there to "save" her once again. And like the other reviews mention, the show doesn't show her choosing Lucie or Si Woo. And the other friend, Ye Seung as the ending fairy made zero sense too.

I changed my rating from a 5 to a 4.

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One of the best

I have read most reviews and I think they have reviewed too prematurely. HRZ is a definitely an odd character... too perfect.. in the entire plot but the ending (last ep 30) wraps up beautifully and unexpectedly.. and explained. I'm not going to give spoilers but this show is one of the bests, great acting. It got me chasing ep by ep. I was having mixed feeling for the ML's character but great wrap with happy ending.

A word of advice to all.. dont review before you watch till the end. I hardly write reviews but cant help correcting and adding on. Enjoy the show.

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There Is A Plot!

I've seen a lot of criticism of My Safe Zone's plot; mainly, viewers saying that there isn't one, which I disagree with. If you're paying attention, the series tells us precisely what it is. Jane is Alin's safe zone, and the series is constructed around that single fact.

What I do agree with is that things moved too quickly. Jane and Alin were put into so many scenarios that we barely had time to recover from the last mishap in their relationship. This threw the series's pacing off. My Safe Zone could have benefited from either more episodes or fewer plot points to keep the story grounded and give the more significant points more time to be explored.

The true gem of My Safe Zone is the chemistry between Lena and Miu; no one can top what they gave us in My Safe Zone. And I'm not referring to the intimate scenes or their great acting performances. They have a give-and-take that I'm sure stems from their longtime friendship, which really gives life and sincerity to Jane and Alin's relationship. I really want to give props to the director for not stifling natural chemistry.

I'm looking forward to their next series, where hopefully they are given a great script with roles that suit them and their abilities.

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For a while now, no drama has motivated me enough to review it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have watched some really amazing dramas (like Tonbi and cruel city). But with Bromance I am suddenly inspired to break my dry spell. It's not even like I want to fangirl over it or I believe it to be the best drama I have ever watched. It didn't even make it to my favorite's list. But despite being average, it made me think of it for a while.

All of us know a girl pretending to be a guy and a handsome man going gay for her is probably one of the most recurring and unoriginal plot in dramas. Granted, the reason for Yanou's gender-bender ways was different from the usual ones. But still, Bromance was full of typical gender-bender stock scenes and cliches.

What made this drama special, was the way the sexuality of the male lead was handled. His affection for his sworn brother transcended beautifully into love and the issue was handled so delicately, it simply made the whole experience amazing. Du Zi Feng's acceptance of his sexuality and acknowledgement of love and attraction as something that crosses boundaries of gender, was beautiful. He sent a strong message that sometimes, love is not about the person being male or female but simply, a person you have come to love. It felt like a subtle protest against the segregation of human beings based on these terms and that simply made me love this drama. People surrounding Zi Feng and Yanou were also extremely supportive and wonderful.

Coming to the cast, Megan was so flawless while portraying a guy. Everything from the way she walked to the way she talked, you could get a dude-vibe from her. I have never seen a girl playing a guy act so realistically. Good acting from her. In fact, the female cast did a fab job altogether. From the moms to the sister to the cousin and everyone else, the female cast had a strong presence in the show.

Coming to the male lead. Honestly, Baron Chen's acting is mediocre but he has really great screen presence, which worked for the show. The character of Zi Feng was certainly the most interesting in the show. Besides being overly handsome, he was so kind, caring and open-minded, it made him all the more attractive. I don't remember him being a jerk even for a second.These kind of sweet and gentle male leads are rare (let's face it, dramas generally have jerks and bullies as leads, however much we love them). He never blamed his homosexual feelings on Yanou, which truly earned him extra points.

The music was really good. And the rewatch value for this show is pretty decent too because the two leads have great chemistry and many cute scenes together. The sub-plot is also pretty interesting. Bromance is definitely among the best Taiwanese dramas of 2015!

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a BL with a soccer backdrop

Overall: it was entertaining. I wish they had reduced the number of characters/side plots to have more time for relationship progression. 8 episodes about 25 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI (U.S. for sure, not sure which other countries) https://www.iq.com/play/sqxdf59e7s?lang=en_us&sh_pltf=4

Content Warnings: past non con picture taking/sharing, unwanted public outing

What I Liked
- visuals
- CEO was a decent antagonist (I really disliked him in episode 1)
- laughed a few times like when he hugged a standee and the difference between interview questions vs. real life
- caring moments
- really liked the captain and the idol
- nice dreams
- good kissing (ie no dead fish lip presses with blocked angles)

Room For Improvement
- the back and forth timeline in the beginning of episode 1
- one short flashback wasn't clear in episode 4
- too many couples, the third couple vanished
- introduced more antagonists, should have focused on the main characters
- nonsense: the plan/approach, how he didn't remember him from high school, did not appear to be enough players for their match

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The Answer Me franchise is known to be one that is refreshing, nostalgic, and warm, and this drama really felt like it. However, I do have to comment on the lengthy episodes though; what could have been 16 episodes turned into 21 episodes. The consequence of having some drawn out episodes are that some viewers start to become desperate to find the ending and can be quite "passionate" in defending their certain views and opinions. I think that to fully enjoy this drama, one must not get caught up in the whole "who's the husband mystery" because this drama has so much more to it. Since future viewers would probably already know who Na Jung will end up with, the angst among the future viewers of this drama would be a lot less, which is good.
So if you are a curious fellow reading reviews to see whether it's worth a watch, yes it definitely is, don't be discouraged by the ones who didn't like the ending. It's WAY MORE than just who Na Jung ends up with. It's a story about life in your 20's in a realistic way. The passion of youth.

It had the same homey feeling as its predecessor, Answer Me 1997, and I really felt like i was part of the Shinchon Boarding house by the time the drama ended. In terms of character development, AM1994 is better than AM1997 because all the characters are a lot more complex and go through a series of change throughout the drama. The characters are not flat, and each character has their own story arc, which I found really charming.

THE CAST WAS PERFECT! The acting was superb, and Go Ara really really exceeded my expectations. Everyone's acting was perfect in portraying their character, and every emotion and feeling can be felt by the viewers as well. and Jung Woo was AMAAAZING at being Ssureki Trash Oppa. You will not hate a character in this drama because all of them are portrayed so well. And the parents once again are soo crazy and even funnier in this drama.

I also think that while you are watching the drama, you should pay close attention to the songs being played in certain scenes because the directors specifically and intentionally put these songs in to suit certain scenes. The music was really good again, like in AM1997 except this time they got their whole cast to sing for the OST haha :)

Overall, i give this drama around a 8.88/10. Although there were some holes, they do not affect the story as a whole and these little holes don't change the meaning of the story. My advice to those who are looking to watch this drama is also to not overthink and overanalyze the drama because it might ruin it for you like how i have seen it get ruined for others. It's a GREAT show that will really get you emotionally entangled with it and shouldn't be overshadowed by the husband mystery. I'm sorry i had to reiterate the part about not focusing too much on "who's the husband" because it's such a waste that a great drama is being clouded by this. It's a realistic portrayal of how life can be like for those in their 20's and is once again a heartwarming story which will, without a doubt, have you **laughing **and **crying** with each character of the series.

Recommend this to those who liked AM1997. Great writing just like AM1997 and was not a mere prequel or sequel that doesn't make sense like Dream High 2. Cable ratings reached over 10% which is a record-breaker so that is saying something :)

It was really a beautiful series.

oh, and there were a lot more passionate scenes, so i was quite satisfied with that too LOL. Go Ara opened her mouth man.

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This is one of those dramas which you never see coming.

It is also deeply underrated and I believe deserves more recognition.

In this drama the female lead is obsessed with money and is hoping to marry a man who is very wealthy and is going to die very soon.

The male lead has just come into a large sum of money....you can already see were this story is going.

What really made me like this drama were the characters. They were different from anything I had seen in a K-drama and were to me believable.

This drama captures your attention right from the get-go.

The last thing I have to say is go and watch this drama!! Its a great drama!

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I can't believe I took so long to watch this! I had plans last year to watch it as soon as I was done with Meteor Garden. But, you see, the thing is, while watching Meteor Garden, I shipped Si and Shancai real hard. No, seriously, I loved them together so much that whenever Shancai went all girly-girly around Lei (vic Zhou's character), my face would turn as grim as Si's and I literally had to fight the urge to skip their parts, fearing I might miss something important. This, and also I watched Vic Chou in a movie called "loving you a 10000 years" and (no offense) but that is possibly the worst movie I have ever watched in any language known to man. It was just lame. And, trust me, it doesn't take much in a movie or a drama to impress me.

Anyways, back to the drama - WHY DIDN'T I WATCH THIS SOONER?! WAE WAE WAE??? This is just amazing. The plot is so intriguing. Not just the romantic parts but also the stuff about mental illnesses and stuff. It's very thrilling. I LOVE VIC CHOU! I seriously cannot believe he didn't win the best actor award for this drama. Same for Barbie Hsu. I mean, their expressions (once again I'm not talking about expressions of love and longing.)were just so beautiful. Gave me goosebumps the whole time.

The kind of characters they built for this drama really impressed me. Ling is the most perfect guy in the most imperfect sense possible. His shades of his personality and different layers of his character, the laugh, the tears, the past. It just moved me, I don't know why. Same goes for Qui Luo. I love the way her character developed after Ling came into her life. I loved their little shack that they made for themselves. I loved the music of the show. I have most of the songs on my phone.

Coming to the rewatch value, I'll definitely give it a 10 because I already watched it twice (no kidding) and I am definitely going to go watch it again for sure. Especially a few favorite parts for which I even remember the episode numbers now (lol).

I'd say if you are an Asian Drama fan, don't skip this one!

PS- Still can't believe Vic Chou didn't win the best actor award for this. My faith in the world of righteousness is shattered. But I'll try not to dwell on that.

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"Do you know that my painful love is you?"

These lyrics echo throughout the drama, as the amazing singer Ali sings the main song "In My Dream". It's a song about unavoidable fate, tragic love and dreams.

"Empire of Gold" is definitely not a drama for everyone. I'm sure half the viewers were bored to death while the other half was helplessly glued to the screen dying to know what happens next.

This is a drama about greed. The path is Hell but the winner gets Heaven. But to get there you need to fight, sacrifice everything you love, shake hands with enemies... and sell your soul.

The synopsis is extremely misleading. There's very little romance in this drama and even though there is something like a tragic love story, it doesn't involve the two characters you'd expect from the synopsis.

The strongest point in this drama is definitely the writing. The characters are complex, the dialogue is intelligent, the whole story is extremely well written. The cast boasts some very good actors but the quality of their performances seemed to fluctuate... in some scenes they were insanely good while in others they were a bit lacking.

Sometimes I felt that Lee Yo Won wasn't fully able to convey the complexity of her own character Choi Seo Yoon. In some scenes the dialogue seemed to hint at something but her face didn't express anything. On the other hand, Go Soo seemed to express TOO MUCH sometimes.

This is a drama that relies heavily on its actors' performances. The action and tension isn't created with big car chase or explosion scenes, but instead with tight dialogue and hidden intentions. It's a merry-go-round of backstabbing.

The last half drags a bit, since some characters fall from the chessboard. The sets become repetitive: Office A, Office B, Office C, living room. But still we watch, too curious to see the outcome.

Then we get that ending... which received a mixed reaction. I think it was a suiting ending. He fought in a wold of Hell because he believed that it became Heaven for the winner. But there can be no Heaven for those who sold their soul.

Even though this drama is definitely not the type I enjoy watching, I was hopelessly addicted to it. And it did leave an impression long after I finished it.

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I didn't like this season quite as much as season one. I think it was mostly because the supporting cast wasn't as interesting. I missed a lot of the office people from season one. I also felt like the story was a little more repetitive. Lots of back and forth "Do I like him/her?" type stuff.

But those are my only complaints. Hotaru and Buchou are just as cute and funny as ever, if not cuter and funnier. Their chemistry is amazing and Buchou's amazing character is helping Fujiki Naohito sneak onto my Asian Hottie List. ^_^

So, basically, not quite as good as the first season, but definitely still worth it for the main couple. I can't wait for the movie!

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