Reviews

A stress-free story with the theme of sincerity.

Whether it's romance, family, or career; the series shows us that if do things with sincerity, it will not go unnoticed. Not everyone will be moved by it, but there will always be people who will see and feel it. The story is simple, nothing ambitious or unique. However, the chemistry, the heartfelt moments, and honest interactions between characters made this series very memorable for me.

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● SHORT REVIEW
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[ --LIKES-- ]

✔ Very likable leads and a mature relationship. Loved the chemistry. A very capable female character and a very green-flag and sincere male lead.

✔ Good communications between the lead. Very drama-free relationship

✔ Lots of cute moments


[ --DISLIKES-- ]

✖ While I loved Ro Woon with Pyung Hwa, his inclusion in the Sibling Six or whatever they called themselves felt rushed. Would've loved to see more development and him building relationship with the others.

✖ The resolution for both Pyung Hwa's and Da Eul's felt too easy given the time we spent seeing their struggle.

✖ Sa Rang's exile to the tourist hotel seemed pointless to me since she was easily brought back to King The Land. Just felt like a nice vacation to me.


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● IN-DEPTH REVIEW
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[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]

The story around the workplace politic and the power struggle between the brother and sister wasn't something I was super interested in. I can't even say that it was the journey of their love that kept me interested as they got together relatively quick. What truly captivated me about the series were the characters themselves and the sincere interactions between them, whether it be cute, funny, heart fluttering, or just pure honesty.

Gu Won is our main male lead. Initially, he was just some chaebol who hated pretentious smiles and could not care less about his family's hotel business. However, he became more interested in the hotel when he meets Sa Rang, whom he falls for. What I absolutely loved about his pursuit of her is was his sincerity and willingness to learn how to be in a relationship. He got to know her bestest friends and her grandma, and they all had advice for him. The core advice was honesty and clarity. Showing how we feel with actions is great, but saying how we feel and what we're thinking helps avoid drama and miscommunication. It's also very romantic to me. Consent is also very sexy. Loved that he asked permission before kissing her during their date. Also, Gu Won's dad was a very likable parent for me. He never really forced his son (mostly since he knew he couldn't) and there were lots of nice father-son moments where he was understanding. The only thing I disliked was when he sent Sa Rang to the tourist hotel. I don't even know what the point was since Won easily just brought her back.

Sa Rang is our beautiful female lead. She is a very capable and hard working girl. She doesn't needs much saving for the most part and was able to take care of herself. The employees of King The Land did not like her at first but her sincere attitude won them over eventually. Sa Rang's growth in this series has less to do with her character development, but more a realization on what she truly wanted to do as her dream career. I wished we had spent more time earlier in the series to build up to the idea of Sa Rang wanting to start her own hotel. Maybe they did sprinkle the idea that she was not happy doing what she was doing subtly and I missed it, but it felt sudden to me. I'm happy though that she found what she wanted to do at the end. I also absolutely loved Sa Rang's grandma. Most memorable for me with her was where she was helping Won set up a savings account, it really touched me.

They pair was great at talking to each other. There was a lot of honesty between the characters and I'm thinking that's what I like so much. Even the interaction between the villain and her brother was for the most part very honest. And the characterizations of the characters were honest in that we knew who to root for and who not to.


[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]

I can't lie, 2PM was the first KPOP ground that I really got to know so the members hold a special place in my heart, even if they aren't my favorite group. With that said, I think this the first series with Junho that I was interested in seeing. I might go watch some of his previous stuff later but they're not super high priority. Watching King The Land, however, did leave a good impression on me with his acting. And I loved his chemistry with Im Yoon Ah. She's so pretty. I need to dive deeper in Girls' Generations. I think everyone did a group job, I felt the feels when I needed to feel them. Special shoutout to Kim Sun Young who play Won's sister. Great antagonist!

[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]

"Yellow Light" from Gaho and "Confess To You" from Kim Ye Yim both stood out to me as my favorites, but all the OST were great! Need to relisten to some of them and see which ones I need for my playlists, but they're all great songs. Not much else to say in that regard.

[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]

I can't say I will watch this in its entirety but there were so many cute, romantic, and funny scenes that I adored. So I wouldn't watch it again for the plot, but I would rewatch clips just to feel the butterflies.

[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]

So my overall impressions was that this was a very light, fluffy cute series where I didn't need to stress about the villain, overthink anything, or even get overly frustrated by anyone. Very stress-free watch for me. It was funny and it was romantic. Checks both the boxes for a romcom for me. Also, lots of scenic scenes. Loved Thailand. Loved the forest vibe of the tourist hotel. Loved the cityscape shots. Yeah, this was an easy watch and very enjoyable watch. I've watch so much kdramas so one would think it would be boring and stale for me, but it wasn't. This series has a lot of charm due the characters and I definitely recommend watching it at least once.

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● NOTE
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I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.

♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥

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A Badminton Drama, Which Needs More Training…

Sports-related K-dramas are few and far between, and the delivered results of these dramas can often be hard to truly take seriously. ‘ Racket Boys’ is no exception. The drama has arisen to a lot of criticism respectfully for certain racial stereotyping, badminton stances and the exact depiction of the drama’s messages. However, it is wrong to entirely point out that “ Racket Boys” does keep the ball rolling with certain elements of the sport and screenwriting either.

Before delving into reasons behind more mixed-criticism for the drama, let’s start on a positive note with what kept viewers entertained . The drama is pretty lighthearted. Whilst it does delve a little beyond the surface into darker territory with Hae Kang's father Yoo Hyeon Jong (Kim Sang Kyung)’s struggles and his mountain of dept as well as more heartfelt moments , the comedy was pretty silly for the most part , the friendship factor for Hae Kang ( Tang Joon-sang) with captain Bang Yoon Dam (Son Sang Yeon), hipster wannabe Na Woo Chan (Choi Hyun Wook) and maknae Lee Yong Tae (Kim Kang Hoon) the good performances by the cast, the romantic elements of the storyline and even the occasional cameo appearances by actors ( such as Park Ho San, Park Hae Soo, Kim Sung Chul, Kang Seung Yoon and Lee Kyu Hyung) from screenwriter Jung Bo Hoon’s previously commercial and critically-acclaimed work ‘ Prison Playbook’ (2017) were surprisingly endearing touches.

Another thing which seemed pretty enticing for viewers was that director Jo Young Gwang had done some evident homework into Badminton terminology such as '4U' (to indicate racket weight) and even mentioning the ideal string tension for beginners to badminton of 26 pounds. Adding to this was the depiction of female players of the sport, with a girl’s team at the middle school, whose coach, Ra Yeong-ja (Oh Na-ra) is renowned for her fierce teaching methods shared some more diverse lighting on the game.

Less impressive was the drama being its own worst enemy at times. The camera work could often be dull when actually depicting the game being played, and the usage of badminton shot positions by Hae Kang's father Yoo Hyeon Jong (even as a disgraced player) was badly depicted at the best of times . Adding to this pile of problems was the episode lengths. Averaging around 90 mins, there’s a lot to cram into these episodes and the skip button can often look more appealing than actually watching the drama at times. The stereotypical cliches here also drag on when Yeong-Ja and her two players are forced to move in with the Yoons and the rest of the boys’ team as the “ will they?, Won’t they?” chemistry lingers between evident romantic setups here. Oh, boy. Then there’s the controversy with racial stereotyping here also with depictions of “ foreigners” being presented as flaky or fickle, such as the cameo appearance of Black exchange student Johnathan( himself) , the obvious “K-pop fan “ ( who disappears and is never mentioned again pretty much because he is no longer relevant to the plot), and then the questionable depiction of the Indonesian team also.

Controversy aside the comedy factor is dependent on personal taste, rather than being universal. It is silly, rather than cleverly written but some may enjoy the running gag of Oh Mae (Cha Mi-kyung), the village “grandma” and her antics, whilst others may view at as distasteful and a poor screenwriting excuse for Hae Kang to learn the value of the “ unique” personalities personalities of the countryfolk living there,and nothing else. Yet in between these more questionable screenwriting, the drama does have surprisingly heartfelt moments here also, like when Hae-kang realizes that neither Oh Mae or her husband are literate , and so he helps her with the remote to her TV and sets up a way she can video call her grandson.

Overall, “ Racket Boys” isn’t a bad show per say. The acting is pretty solid, the sport depiction isn’t bad and the lighthearted moments are fairly sweet but it is very much dependent on what you are looking for. The comedy really isn’t everyone’s taste with its goofy gags ,often stealing away from the more profound moments of the drama and the tropes can grow tiresome and predictable.There were times where it felt as though ‘ Racket Boys’ struggled with balancing out the comedy and drama factors due to episode lengths, and would’ve flourished more as two separate shows rather than as a K-dramedy . However if you’re just here for some laughs and a couple of “ aww” moments during a binge-watching session ( rather than the central storyline) in order to disengage your brain from more serious and complex storylines, then you’ll likely enjoy it.

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This was a weird one. Japan produces plenty of great BL/yaoi anime and manga, but their few live-action offerings are never quite right. There were some funny and cute moments, and I understand that the tone was meant to be lighthearted and over-the-top rather than subtle and realistic, but some things about it bothered me.

Warning, spoilers below...




Ossan's Love employs the strange tactic of having a not-very-likeable lead character. Haruta is not a bad person, but he behaves more like a teenager than an adult man. His mannerisms are bizarre, he shouts a lot, he's always rolling around drunk, and he doesn't seem to have any self-awareness. I guess it's his good looks that draw people to him...?

More importantly, however, I didn't get the impression that Haruta had ever - at any point in his life - considered himself to be bi or gay, but when he found himself with two male suitors he gave both of them hope (by going with the flow and not giving any clear rejection) while simultaneously recoiling from any physical contact and seemingly just wanting to be friends. This kind of confused response might make sense in someone much younger, but it doesn't sit right coming from a 33-year-old man. Just what was he trying to do? What was he thinking? I'm still not sure. Even by the end of the show I wasn't convinced that Haruta genuinely had romantic feelings for anyone, which made the ending somehow unsatisfying. I would have liked it more if I had seen and believed in a real transformation in his feelings.

This show kept me watching to the end, mainly to see if Haruta would ever make a clear decision with conviction. On a positive note, the side-characters were kind of interesting and fun, especially Choko, even if her reaction to the situation was unrealistic.

In short, this show wasn't terrible, but there are much better BL offerings out there that have more emotional punch, more chemistry, and frankly...make more sense.

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Fast-paced crime drama with a sizzling Love/Hate romance

Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25

I’m so glad to see Korean BLs coming back with a good drama like “The Prosecutor’s Proposal”. I’ve always found KBLs do really well with the darker and angstier themes. As a low-budget mini drama, this is a well-produced one. It’s not perfect and still suffers from being too short, but it doesn’t have the usual flaws of a small production - looking cheap & bad acting.

I really appreciate this is a serious drama without the occasional over-the-top comedy that messes with the overall feel of it. I also really like that the crime investigation is the focus and romance is just a part of the plot. What’s best is that “The Prosecutor’s Proposal” does not look cheap. Though there aren’t any fancy sets, the overall cinematography feels like a regular long-form drama.

The main romance is definitely the talk of the town. The leads have excellent chemistry even during the crime investigation when they are in a supervisor/supervisee relationship. Of course, the love-hate relationship and the red flag-ness of Ju Tae Seon are the icing on the cake. The sexual tension is palpitating. I just want them to kiss and devour each other, which they did. LOL The emotions going into the NC scenes are delicious and sizzling. The NC scenes themselves are sexy and passionate, but they are way too short especially after such a great build up. If I have to pick on the romance, it’s that everything is too fast-paced. The transition from hate to love happens too fast. For a short drama, there’s no luxury of time to let their romance slowly develop, and give us more push-and-pull tension.

The overall acting is solid. Kim Yoon Sik shines as Prosecutor Ju. His manic behavior changed so rapidly. Although he’s not a newbie to the industry, he doesn’t really have that many dramas under his belt either. His more unpredictable behavior contrasted well with Park Si Woo’s more introverted and quiet acting. I’m glad Investigator Lee Chae Ha is not a pushover either. He might be on the quiet side, but will stand up for himself when needed. Park Si Woo performed quite well. The rest of the supporting cast also did a pretty good job.

The crime investigation takes up the majority of the time, as it should be. The general plot is interesting enough. However, since this is such a short drama, it doesn’t have enough time to fully write really intricate storylines. There are some actions done by the villains that make me scratch my head, especially towards the last few episodes when we’re about to find out who the murderers are. The writing could have been better. If this is a regular big budget drama, I might criticize this a little more.

Overall, “The Prosecutor’s Proposal” is a fast-paced, engaging crime investigation drama with a juicy and sizzling romance. Its weakness is the lack of time to develop the romance well, and to give us a more tightly written crime drama. But I applaud its ability to give us a sizzling romance (except the last episode when it feels a little cringey), a well-acted drama that doesn’t look cheap. Given this is a low budget drama with adjusted expectations, I am rounding up my 8.25 to a 8.5.


Drama Completed: 7/23/2026 Review #705

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Such a disappointment

I just finished the drama yesterday and I was super frustrated and disappointed because after all I had high expectations because of the writer Park Hae Young with her Masterpiece drama (My Mister) but I was totally wrong. This drama had few amazing written scenes but most of it was a fail.

First of all, Mr. Gu I never understood him… and I found his character very poor written. even thoughI personally like the actor but this character was a big no. Always looking bored, lost and tired with a mystery past that was not exciting at all nor well explained. Also, his relationship with the FL oh my god… I have never ever hated main couple romance as I hated it in this drama. I almost skipped all of there scenes as I found it very boring, uncomfortable and very weird and not charming at all. I didn’t get their relationship at all and I don’t understand when the love bloomed? I hated watching nonsense so I just skipped it.
Chang hee was my favourite character. His scenes and dialogues were amazing and the actor excellently delivered his emotions, but I unfortunately skipped most of his scenes at the last couple episodes right after the stupid THIME SKIP. I the time skip thing was it necessary? Because actually the last three episodes were a total fail and the writer missed up. Ki Jung was also my favourite character as I found her very relatable outspoken and true to her self… but again why she super unconfident after being with tae hoon? Why all of a sudden would she accept mistreatment from his crazy sister and spoiled daughter? What happneed to the outspoken strong confident woman? I was really angry with how the writer ruined her character and even did not give her a clear proper ending. And tae hoon ahhh don’t even get me started. he promised to marry her when his daughter becomes 20??? and the way he ignores all the stupid things that his sister does to his girlfriend and yet pretending that he is the one who is having a hard time?


I would never watch this drama again and I just gave it 5 for the acting and couple of scenes.

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The possibilities for this show were endless. A semi interesting story about two lawyers who represent the top 1 percent aka the rich, famous, and well off. The story's bones were there, I will say. I was compelled to watch it not because it peaked my interest wholeheartedly, but I desired to see how they would tie it together.

Our female protagonist is a colorful character to put it lightly. She is dressed like a 90's rapper: tacky, flashy, over the top, all with matching pimp rings to tie it together. While I had no problem with this (even though her hair looked like a hat most of the time), I did have an issue with how she dominated everything when she could have been easily discarded. Let's be honest the female lead should have been disbarred the first or second episode. From blackmail to illegally obtaining documentation/information, our main lead has no issues with getting down and dirty(even if it is far-fetched) .

The story begins to step into hella-far-fetched territory during EP 4. The writers poorly try to keep the two leads together by giving them cases to somehow connect them. It drags, and the punches become expected after EP 5. You sit back and say "here he/she(main leads) come." Predictability isn't a bad thing, but when the story relies on intellect and twist it becomes boring. The main male lead always fumbling when he encounters her took away from his character. He should have been ruthless, hard, not easily shaken, and witty. But since he wasn't during those forced encounters, he became weak as an overall lead. Overall I finished..... But like a $15.00 buffet with mediocre food, I got my moneys worth eating all I could, why not I am already here. But I wouldn't go back for a second time even if i was offered the chance.

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This drama is,honestly, the worst one I have watched. The plot introduction was intriguing with crime and melodrama. In the beginning, it was only right to sympathize with Mi Do. However, as the drama progressed, I lost all sympathy toward her. Her acting is bad, keeping a stale face and personality throughout the whole drama. It's the first time I despised the lead actress so much. The only reason I rated the acting 6 is because of Tae Sang. He played his part great. All the efforts he put in just to get shot down and heartbroken all the way to the last episode. On top of Mi Do, there was also Jae Hee. The 2nd guy in the love triangle is expected to be somewhat irritating (in most cases). Jae Hee had me annoyed from the beginning to the end. I couldn't stand the Mi Do and Jae Hee couple. Honestly, I only kept watching because of Tae Sang or else I would have dropped this drama right from the beginning. The plot playout was very disappointing as well as the ending. There's a nixture of good and bad reviews and I guess it's a matter of how Mi Do got to you. To me, she is the biggest reason why this drama is so bad.

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Too much romance instead of development.

At a Distance, Spring is Green. My first thoughts? The poster looked like something from a 2010's show, which isn't bad but seeing a yellow haired male lead made me just not like Park Ji Hoon's (Yeo Joon's) look at all. But, I started liking his look later on in the show.
Just a note, I have never saw the webtoon before so this is solely based on the drama itself.

CHARACTERS/STORY
MALE LEADS
Yeo Joon and his family were brought into the limelight in starting episodes, but after that, where are they? Yeo Joon's current family problems are faded into the background after introducing it one episode, and we just kept getting flashbacks. Until they decided to bring back his family problems second to last episode. Beside his family problems, Yeo Joon isn't that bad of a character.

Soo Hyun, not bad either but not my favorite. Soo Hyun starts warming up to Yeo Joon the last minute, having some/barely any scenes with them. I just don't really know what to talk about him.

Chan Ki, boring! And they at least try to redeem his character soon in the story, He barely gets screen time. And if he does, sure he has his haha moments but that's it.

FEMALE LEADS
So Bin, not gonna lie, after seeing Kang Min Ah in True Beauty I was pretty excited she'll get her own main role, but her character's a bore. Don't get me wrong, it's not like she's just standing their all episodes but she's just a bore? Too nice maybe? She does have a backstory to her past but that's only for 1-2 episodes in the middle of the show.

Mi-joo, boring. I won't lie, her character COULD'VE been better with some screen time and development, we barely know anything about her to even declare if she's good or not. Only thing I know is that she has good fashion sense. She also had to many scenes "drooling" over Soo-hyun. But I'll give props to screenwriters for not making her some cocky rich girl as I thought she would've been.

Young Ran, maybe the most interesting? But not really also because lack of screen time, all we know is that she's Soo-hyun's longest friend, she's strong physically, and that's about it.

SOBIN AND YEO JUN'S ROMANCE
I personally think they're romance was pretty cute but took too much screen time to develop most characters. Talking about you the most Mi-joo.

SOO HYUN'S LOVE TRIANGLE
What an annoying triangle I've ever seen. One is to scared to admit their feelings and the other one get's too hook up on Soo-hyun thinking they know everything about him while barely having any interactions with him.

SOO HYUN AND YEO JOON'S BROMANCE/FRIENDSHIP
Love, love, LOVEEE! IT! I recommend you stay to watch these two if you don't like the romance part, although some episode they barely get any scenes at all with each other.

ACTING
The acting was great! Not enough to give a 10 though but great!

MUSIC
Loved! I mostly have a lot of them on my playlist.

WILL I REWATCH?
Specific episodes only.

SUMMARY!!
This show was amazing at first to me, what was missing was character development/likability in a lot of characters, wasted scenes with So-bin and Yeo Jun's romance, Soo-hyun's stupid love triangle, and again. WASTED SCENES! Although my rating isn't that high I do recommend that you check this out as it only has 12 episodes, I think it should've had 16 or just more time duration!
They're other things I would've talked about like Mi-joo and Soo-hyun's interactions, Jun-wan and Yeo Joon and more but I think you'll make your own opinion on those once you choose to watch it or not.

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What a RIDE!! I'm so thankful

I actually feel sorry for people who dropped Playboyy in early episodes because early episodes are kinda confusing I can't lie.. Everyone is just randomly having sex with other characters out of nowhere.. But that's the things that makes Playboyy so unique and amazing. You can't understand what's going on but you get addicted anyway. Like for real I rewatched it every episode at least 3 times and everytime I noticed new things!!

Actors are so bold, sincere and comfortable so it makes everything better because even in cringey scenes I enjoyed it so much! In some bl's they don't even let different ships actors interact with each other but in Playboyy nearly every character has at least 3 different ships like poor/lucky Dech literally made out with half of the cast because he played 2 characters...

Choice of music were amazing as well. I listen the opening credits everyday :)

Other thing that made Playboyy so special was the comment section. Everyone was so unhinged, funny and polite at the same time and I enjoyed coming to this amazing comment section every week. Let's reunite in season 2 comment section!!! <3

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'The Return of Iljimae' has many strong points, and in many ways is more complete story-wise than the other drama 'Iljimae', but I wasn't entirely happy with it.

Having watched 'Iljimae',I must say, there is very little in common between these two dramas, other than the 'Robin Hood' nature of Iljimae and his rather misfortunate connection to his parents.

The return of Iljimae has a broader framework,is more well written, and explores the identity of Iljimae as a hero of the times, working against injustice than for any personal quest. I felt that the story and the characters were more complete in this.

The action sequences are good. There must have been plenty of rope and pulleys used in the making, as Iljimae and numerous others are always flying and leaping about in these scenes.
The episodes are all interesting, and keep you moving forward without boredom.

Regarding the cast: I had wanted to watch this initially for Jung Il Woo, and he didn't disappoint. He is good as Iljimae, truly the 'pretty girl-like-boy' as often referred to in the drama (I loved his ponytail hair).
The supporting cast is good,with many strong performances except that some secondary characters were made annoying by over-acting.

Despite all this, I didn't feel really satisfied with this drama. There wasn't so much plain fun or happy-energy associated with it.

Iljimae's character is mostly solemn/sad/serious/angry. Very rarely do we get to see his smile, let alone hear a laugh. There are so many things happening, we can near feel him carrying the burden of the world on his shoulders.
The romantic relationship is developed on realistic terms, along the sidelines of the plot.
The ending too, although happy, has a solemn, contemplative feel to it.

To sum up, although lacking in story and character development, character Iljimae in the drama 'Iljimae' evoked more happiness than the one we find in 'The Return of Iljimae'.

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This movie is a must see for those who like Psychological dramas. The complicated plot makes you think about things and see this aspect of the Korean school system in a different way.

There were many times where my heart was racing during this movie. Although it is not a thriller, some parts may surprise you and make you jump.

An interesting aspect of Pluto is its connection with Pluto. The reason why it is titled so is very interesting, though it only seemed to intertwine with the plot in the beginning and the end.

The cast seemed to fit well with the characters and the acting was extremely convincing.
I am glad that I watched this and would definitely watch it again.

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A crime investigation with a strong theme of bromance.

Where do I begin with this series? Of course like many fans, I found out about this series on twitter and only knowing Inukai Atsuhiro. I went in and bought all of the source manga digitally. Reading the manga really excited me of what I call a mix of action thriller investigation and semi metaphoric romance between Ichirou and Shirou.

The drama version of Kei x yaku is almost prefect. But because as a manga reader and knowing how good the drama could have been I can’t rate this series higher than 7.

I also have to warn that most will not like the ending. But it leaves a possiblity for season 2/movie follow up.

Kei x Yaku as a standalone drama is still very good, it’s got action, suspense, mystery but good chemistry between the two main leads.

Story

Kei x Yaku base story brings together Ichirou a public officer and Shirou a Yakuza gang leader together through one person they both know. It leads them to work undercover as a “couple” to find out the truth the story and from this unfolds into something more deep. As well as the bond between Ichirou and Shirou forming.

Acting/casting

One of the biggest positives/highlights of Kei x yaku is the cast. I have little complains (but in my ideal mind I would of casted an actor who’s the same height as Inukai). This would be my 1st introduction to Nobuyuki Suzuki in anything that he’s done, I will say Suzuki did great! He pulls off the soft but serious Ichirou, the best thing about his performance is that he can withhold his emotions in his acting.

I was more interested to see how Inukai Atsuhiro was going to act as Shirou, because I really like Shirou in the manga. Inukai blew those expectations out of the water, because Inukai is the perfect casting for Shirou and I couldn’t see anyone else but Inukai play as him. It’s amazing that dyeing your hair blond changes his whole image, but the slight gestures and attitude he displays screams Shirou. This so far is the like the best thing I’ve seen Inukai act and I would recommend 100% for Inukai fans just to watch him in this.

The rest of the cast is also very strong.

Music

I have to give a shoutout to composer Ryo Nobuguchi because the soundtrack to Kei x yaku is amazing. The main theme alone is enough to make you excited as well as 13th drums. An amazing mix of cello, violin, piano and drums. The music is one of the highlights of the show.

Positives

What I think the best thing about Kei x yaku is quality. The directing is amazing, the production is high quality, the cast/acting is amazing, and the music is amazing. Put it together and you get something like a semi action movie like drama. The 1st episode will always be the best one for me as it goes out with a bang.

I also like that the story doesn’t ignore the bond between Ichirou and Shirou, because the drama weaves in the investigation action with general scenes with just Ichirou and Shirou getting on with their lives.

Negatives

Kei x yaku honestly could have been something more special. One factor of the manga is that it has hints of showing something more between Ichirou and Shirou but the drama version doesn’t go beyond the “bromance” line. I assume it’s because they think the audience wouldn’t be able to tell what Ichirou and Shirou relationship is if they showed it like the manga. So face down the drama version is just a bromance, any BL drama fans looking for the next History Trapped this drama isn’t it.

Another factor is that the manga is WAY MORE ACTION PACKED. There’s a lot of action scenes in the manga that is gripping, I assume the drama didn’t have that much budget so these action scenes were reduced. But there’s an odd pacing to the investigation, like trial and error approach. The characters think they make progress but then they stumble and the progress they made is pushed back. There’s also way too many flashbacks to fill in screentime when they could of shown more new scenes.

Overall

Kei x yaku is a good investigation action thriller with bromance. If you are open to watching bromance then you are in for a ride! Any BL drama fans just looking for the romance I suggest to watch an actual BL drama.

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