Reviews

I absolutely detest writing a review without finishing a drama, but I fear I won't be able to finish this one. My eternal patience has given way to annoyance and even murderous intent - so I'll stop lest I decide to start plotting against the crew. I've come a long way (85 episodes), so I guess I'm not dropping it without trying. So why am I giving up when there are only 15 episodes remaining?

Two reasons:
1. Every drama has lovable characters who keep the viewers occupied. This drama has no consistent ones. Even the supposedly good characters behave like retards more than once.
2. After 85 episodes, I feel like the story so far could've been as well been covered in 8 episodes.

Lets start with the synopsis - "A drama about a woman who finally becomes a part of a family after re-adoption and man who chooses love over family." I seriously wonder how this synopsis was written (gets my nomination for the worst synopsis reward). After around 43 hours, I'm not convinced that she's becoming a part of the family but I'm already convinced he's not choosing love over family.

Coming to the story, this features the most hopeless and pointless love quadrangle I've ever seen seen in a drama. Seems more like mere obsession and rivalry rather than love. The so-called hero keeps jumping all over the place with his decisions. Every drama has characters you'd like to kill off so that the rest can be in peace. But if you start doing it here, there'll be no one left.

The only redeeming point was the music - I kinda liked the opening theme.

Rewatch: The "watch" value itself tends to zero - the rewatch might as well go into negative.

Concluding Thoughts: I might've been critical and exaggerated here and there, but I'm at the pinnacle of vexation and have been ruing the wasted hours of my life. There are loads of good family-oriented dramas out there like Glorious Day, Family's Honor, Assorted Gems and Daughters-in-law. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this contraption.

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At the beginning of the story, I could not understand whats happening in the drama :/ . I felt bored and nearly gave up on it. However, this drama wasn't that bad after all as the story was getting more interesting and funnier when further watching the episodes. Hehe the skills a bit too cool but I like. To my surprised, this drama was able to catch my feelings at the right timing and kept me watching it. There were times where this drama was humorous (XD) and heartbroken (T_T). Even though the sad moment was short at the back of the few episodes but, the disaster that the couple had was heartbreaking :( ! Therefore, I was tempted to continue watching it and kept me curious in it.
As I had researched, the main actress was a rookie and, to my surprise, she actually performed well in this drama. For the other actors and actresses, they were amusing and had cooperated well to show humor in this drama. Well done :).
This drama may not be the perfect one you guys are looking for but its worth to watch something new isn't it :)? Hope you guys will watch this too and have fun watching it!

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Trying to tell too many stories, but a VERY lovely main romance & First experience

Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25

Stumbled upon “Ripe for the Picking” on Netflix as it silently shows up without much fanfare. As I read the synopsis, I was expecting another over-the-top rom-com about a 30-year-old virgin and a socially awkward guy. But I was pleasantly surprised that this is lovely and heartfelt love story between two vastly different individuals.

This is a very short drama, only 9 episodes and less than 30 minutes each. I would say my biggest complaint would be too many side stories. As much as I enjoy learning each co-worker’s individual journey to love and finding themselves, they are too short and take away screen time from the leads. The leads’ love story has become an afterthought in the first few episodes, while the drama spends its precious limited time on:

A working mom trying to find work/life balance, and her own identity.
A career woman whose sole focus on work jeopardizes her personal relationships
A girl with low-esteem struggling to find love in all the wrong places and being shallow as hell.
A asexual co-worker whose story was mentioned in passing without much depth

These are all interesting stories individually, but with such limited time, they just seem to be stories that hit all the checkboxes. They are not given the proper time and effort in developing them into meaningful ones.

Having said all that, the main romance is lovely. The leads are both awkward but sweet individuals. Their encounters and subsequent development are lovely to see. Oh, and there are quite a few frustrating moments with communication, but I’ve learned to forgive them because they tug my heartstrings.

Female lead is pretty and quite successful at work, yet she hasn’t had a boyfriend since high school (hard to believe!). She’s embarrassed to be a virgin at 32 and is on a mission to sleep with someone. That drive and desire propelled her to take the initiative in approaching our socially awkward ML. I have to applaud FL’s shy forwardness because she is the one making all the moves and trying to clear all misunderstanding/miscommunication. My heart breaks for her when she was ‘rejected’ and was so confused about what happened.

But what I love best about this drama is how it gives us a sweet, awkward but very realistic portrayal of a first sexual experience. I’m glad so much care and thought are put into writing their intimate time together. It was beautiful to witness (and quite embarrassing as I feel like a voyeur). When they do open up to each other, no matter how weird and awkwardly frustrating it is, it feels honest and intimate. And special brownie points to great kisses that feel romantic, tender and a lot of desire.

This drama might not be for all, especially if you usually get upset with a lack of communication. We have some of those frustrating moments, but they get cleared up pretty fast. I had a lovely time watching this and shed some tears of (seemingly) heartbreaks for the leads.



Completed: 4/21/2024 - Review #431

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HEAL THROUGH A JOURNEY OF THE WINDY PLACE ❤️

MEET YOURSELF
I don't know where to start this drama has been HOME I cried when I realised it has ended maybe because I've been soo attached to it🥹 now why should you watch meet yourself ( 5 reasons they could be 100 because it's worth all that but I'll sum it all up into five😅😇

#1. The storyline
Unique refreshingly, slow but intriguing and indulging, full of life, healing amazing I can't find more words but this has a story I needed, I was hooked from EP one which made me cry alot by the way till EP 40 which made me cry too because I couldn't believe it had ended🥲🥹

#2.THE CAST
All characters be it the leads or the supports every single one of them did a great job, every character was given room to bond with the viewers every story was given time, every character was soo good I felt so connected to each and every one or them thanks for bringing this beautiful story to life🤍🥺🙏

#3.The healing life lessons and dialogue
Usually when iam watching a drama I screen shot funny scenes 😅 but with this it was the dialogue that was so relatable I couldn't help pause to agree, the lessons of life I've learnt in this series were more than anything... thanks to the writer....for such relatable life lessons 🥺

#4.The cinematography and scenery

You know how you feel calm by just staring at the breath taking scenes in a series, that's how I felt I even wished I could pack up and go to the windy place too 😂 every one needs that freshness thanks yunan village for the breathtaking scenery🥰

#5.The osts and because it's that good

The osts were soothing, amazing to here and catchy🤍

This is my current top one drama of 2023 it's gonna take alot to take its place so good luck to all dramas iam watching you have got your self a tough competition 😅

Lastly if you want a healing drama, slow but amazing then this is your pick😌
TITLE: MEET YOURSELF
PERSONAL RATING: 10/10 I BADLY WANT IT GIVE IT A 💯❤️🥺

A special appreciation to Janice wu and all the other cameos for portraying their roles amazingly too❤️

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The art of letting go

This show essentially IMHO is about learning letting go. Li Xiangyi could let go his fame, glory, romantic love, and hatred and transformed into Li Lianhua, whereas the villains couldn't let go of their jealousy and obsession. Other characters are in between for letting go.

This is the first time ever I leave a review for a show as it left a deep impression for me. It's also my first Cheng Yi show, I had no idea who he was although I knew he played a judge in "Draw the Line" which I haven't watched.

I knew this show existed because I saw some Youtube comments about this show was the show they most looked forward to. When I saw the first 2 episodes were available in iQiyi, I was prompted to watch.

I don't know what to expect as I hadn't read the synopsis. But once I started, I couldn't stop. It had all the ingredients in dramas that I enjoy, which are Sherlockian mysteries, humor, bantering, with plenty of bromance. For the mysteries they gave enough clues to let people guess but with some twists that sometime the audience wouldn't know such as changing gender, changing appearance which were not common in "normal" stories. However the conclusions they arrived are logical so that is a plus for me.

Some of the cases are heart breaking and show the best and worst of human nature plus the compassion of our duo detectives.

Now let's move on the duo (which occasionally became trio). Li Lianhua is the Sherlock of the show. He is smart and has very strong observation and deduction powers. He also lies as easily as he breathes. He is also a renowned physician although nobody knows about his past. The Watson of the show is Fang Duobing, a wide-eyed rich kid who wants to be a detective. When he discovered that Lianhua could deduct really well, he stuck to Lianhua like glue to the annoyance and amusement of the latter. They later formed a deep friendship and camaraderie. To complete the trio is Di Feisheng who knows Lianhua's real identity and was determined to have a duel with him. Both he and Lianhua tried to hide Lianhua's identity which made a lot of funny stories in the beginning of the show.

There is also an overarching arch in the story and some of the stories are actually related to a big conspiracy dated 10 years ago which Lianhua and co tried to uncover. This arch is closely related to Lianhua's past which he tries to let go and triggers the development of each character.
One of the most profound part in the show is when Lianhua told someone the transformation from Li Xiangyi to Li Lianhua. Li Xiangyi was at the top of the world to the admiration and envy of a lot of people in Jianghu. Because of some misfortunes, he became penniless and his main focus was not to get hungry as he grew his own vegetables. During this time, he couldn't hold on to any grudges and resentment or even former glory as his main focus was survival. This part was very touching and Cheng Yi truly delivered. As Lianhua, he could roam freely in his lotus tower and helped people through medicine.

Acting wise every one did great, especially the main characters. I need to check out the main trio works in the future. I deducted some points because the villains were too one dimensional even though they were well acted and Li Xiangyi could let go of everything except his guilt which in fact he was not really guilty about when we later found out. He could forgive others and let others to live their lives without guilty but he never forgave himself.

It's definitely a good show for mystery, humor, and wuxia fans. Upon rewatch, we could appreciate the story and acting more.

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Lessons on Life, Love, and Letting Go

Moonlight Chicken is, arguably, the best BL series to come out of Thailand. If, that is, we regard it as BL at all. This series defies expectations associated with dramas from the BL genre many times over, while never quite betraying its roots as a BL drama. For a genre associated with same-sex romance, BL series seldom explore what being gay means to the characters, whereas that is the calling card for series in the LGBTQ genres. Rather than claim a confused sexual identity or espouse some version of “I don’t see gender,” Moonlight’s characters and themes are unapologetically gay. Where the typical BL series peddles an idealized courtship fantasy between virginal men aspiring to a meaningful first love (that will, obviously, last forever), this series focuses on men trying to recover from failed past relationships. The lead characters are neither virgins nor under the illusion that love will be permanent. Instead of two characters overcoming obstacles as they move toward something, this series centers on characters struggling in different ways to let go of their past. The shards of their broken prior romances comprise the obstacles to be overcome before they can contemplate moving on to someone new. Many of the support characters must also learn to let go of some event or person from their own past. These personal demons anchor their present and future. Moonlight Chicken is an extended rumination on the pain of letting go, rather than the straightforward courtship story many viewers might have expected. As a consequence its themes, characters, and plot obstacles will resonate to an audience both older and more conversant with life’s hiccups than the audience that consumes BL solely for the vicarious thrill of (re-)experiencing the bloom of first love. The fantasy elements of BL romances usually revolve around situations designed to infuse reliable doses of serotonin in the brains of viewers. Grounded in the rigors and mundanity of adulting, Moonlight Chicken eschews the fanciful for realism. Anyone who has been burned by love, struggled to make ends meet, or invested time in pursuing someone who is emotionally unavailable will relate to these characters.

At the center of Moonlight Chicken stand Wen and Jim, played by Mix and Earth respectively. The series marks the actors’ third pairing as the showpiece couple of a GMMTV BL series, after A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) and Cupid’s Last Wish (2022). Wen and Jim showcase the actors’ emotional range better than their prior pairings, where the nature of the roles trapped those characters in a single lane. Here, Wen and Jim each have some emotional trauma to process—leftovers of events that unfolded before the two met—so that the actors have some real work to do. Before Wen and Jim can embark on a relationship themselves, each man must confront the emotional baggage he has carried from the past. Wen has recently left a relationship with Alan, who cannot understand why their relationship failed. Jim lost his lover twice. Once when he discovered that the man had a fiancée and a second time when an accident claimed the man’s life before he could choose which course to follow. In the five years since those events, Jim has never trusted another with his heart. That high wall effectively froze out Gaipa, whose mother runs the chicken stall that supplies the product for Jim’s restaurant. Rounding out the principal cast are a pair of high schoolers, whose incipient friendship blossoms into an incipient romance. Their tale provides a more traditional BL side story, to temper the angst of the main characters.

Steering the whole shebang was Aof, scriptwriter and director. His prior works often have moments where a semblance of queer authenticity crept into the BL proceedings. This go around, the studio allowed him free reign to represent an overtly gay sensibility. Another difference between Moonlight and most other BL series is that four characters—Wen, Jim, Alan, and Gaipa—are all out gay men, well-adjusted to and self-accepting of that identity. For these characters, being gay structures not just personal identity but also dynamics between themselves and their families, friends, co-workers, and lovers. It positions where they believe they fit within society, and what opportunities society offers and forecloses on that basis. Too often BL series believe having two men hop into a bathtub together suffices as a basis for “gay.” Moonlight Chicken understands the difference between gay-as-entertainment and commentary about gayness. In the later episodes, the series even gets a little preachy in its advocacy for accepting same-sex attraction as a perfectly ordinary type of human possibility.

The authentic queer sensibility emerges in the opening scenes of episode 1. A drunken Wen has patronized Jim’s late-night diner, only to pass out in a stupor. The type of person to take responsibility for the well-being of everyone around him, Jim stays with Wen until a friend can arrive to claim him. Because “plot requirements,” the friend never arrives. Instead, the two end up in bed that very night, after a carefully negotiated agreement that their sex was to be a no-strings attached one-night stand. They do not even know each other’s name. That sort of negotiation is quite common among gay men in real life but quite rare in BL. While exceptions exist, the standard BL character is shocked—absolutely stunned!—at the suggestion that two virile men could even contemplate a physical relationship outside of a genuine love. As everyone knows, sexual relationships cannot be consummated until after all the dramatic plot obstacles delaying courtship have been removed. Such thinking reflects the “good girl” standard, that very patriarchal prescriptive model of behavior that regulates the sexuality of single women. (Remember, BL originated as a genre written by women for women. That the sexual comportment of men sleeping with men in BL would resemble the expectations society foists onto women is unsurprising.) Moonlight Chicken favors the descriptive model—portraying how people actually behave in lieu of adhering to some moral standard. Even more than featuring four out gay men, that simple “no strings attached” negotiation helps make this GMMTV series the most authentically gay series ever to emerge from Thailand. That kind of queer authenticity, blended with the theme of letting go makes Moonlight Chicken a compelling drama.

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Before you get yourself started with this drama, you have to prepare yourself to go through with the endless flashbacks in every single episodes. Overall, I actually find the drama quite enjoyable to watch, given the story plot with background on business setting, which in many dramas either made redundant as supporting environment for the characters or become too boring with all the talks on business and power politic stuff. For me, the drama made the drone business sounds rather compelling and for something techie like this, it was not too complex for audience to grasp the business matter depicted in the drama. To me, this the drone business is a refreshing point in this drama.

For this drama, I see the key theme as focusing on human intertwined relationships. We all have relationships from the past that somehow stretched to present life - good or bad regardless, these past relationships made us who we are now. This drama tried to have good coverage of all kinds of relationship stories for all the characters featured in it. Other than the expected romantic relationships, there are friendships (esp on man to man buddy for life between Shiyue and Chang Jianxiong), boss with co-workers and among colleagues of Future Up, family members of Nanqiao (esp on father-daughters and even mention of mother-son between Nanqin and Zhenghao and issue on aging!), 'debtors'-'creditors (not just monetary per say but being life indebted and faithful to 'jianghu' aka the underworld sorta relationships), grief relationships with the dead person, and even trying to inject how we can be connected through animals! I though it was a nice play on the whole vet shop and relating to the 3 dogs of Shiyue (little things reinforcing faithfulness and kinships theme). As the relationship stories made progress for the characters, we get to see how people made choices in their lives, what they would do for love from their perspectives and learning to let go, and then to wrap things up mainly focusing on acceptance, which is not easy to do in real life to be honest.

So if you have patience to watch the unraveling of these relationships then you may be interested to stay on till the end of this drama even if you possibly able to predict the outcomes of these relationships but to watch them unfold quite worth the journey. Undoubtedly there were quite a number of what I perceived as unnecessary scenes towards the development of the story plot (aka fillers) and also in terms of characters development, not that smoothly illustrated but these became easily oversight for me when I chose to remember the meaningful conversations about the strong female MC, Nanqiao's dream in this drone business and always on the exchanges between Shiyue with Anning. I seriously thinks Qin Hailu's acting shone brighter than Bai Baihe in this drama. At times I even feel Bai Baihe's acting a bit stiff and I could not really feel strong chemistry between Bai Baihe and William Chan in this drama as a couple. William Chan was great in carrying out his role though, almost to the point of being himself at certain points in terms of being playful.

When talking about meaningful conversations I recalled two intertwined dialogues on Shiyue, Nanqiao and Anning. Between Shiyue and Anning: "What we have is the past but we don't have a future", which is so true because what was once lost you can never go back and even if you do, it is never the same anymore. Then followed up with conversation between Shiyue and Nanqiao on accepting Shiyue's past and stating, "I did not make it in time to be with you in your past but I will definitely be with you in your future". I believe it is the many meaningful conversations that keep me watching the drama because they made me feel connected to the drama. Also after all the flashbacks fast forwarding, for me, Ep34 was the most memorable episode as the plot gets a final strong hold to build to the finale momentum. Oh, oh and I like the opening and closing theme songs. Both songs' lyrics aptly depicting the drama itself.

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Good one-time-watch

Recalled is a decent psychological thriller. Nothing too extraordinary, but slightly better than the average thriller.

With no further prelude or introductory elements the viewer is pulled right into the story, seeing things through the eyes of the main character Soo-Jin (Seo Yea Ji) , who has lost her memory due to an accident and struggles to distinguish between reality and illusion, going to the extent that at some point she even starts to suspect her husband.

The actual "mystery" is pretty predictable, but seeing things through Soo-Jin's eyes and witnessing her emotions, her horror and fright uncovering things actually made the plot interesting, far from gripping or engaging but enough to keep one invested. Seo Yea Ji once again proves her versatility as an actress and her capability to convey conflicted emotions to the viewer with ease. Kim Kang-Woo got some bigger parts in the second half and the chemistry of this on-screen-couple was also surprisingly pleasant. The rest of the cast had some minor roles and were frankly, quite forgettable.

The last 30 minutes or so were quite surprising, leading to a switch in genre and making this movie stand out from other psychological thrillers of this kind. While the rest of the movie, plot- wise felt more like a 6.5- 7 rating, the later parts turned it into a 8 for me.

So is it worth watching? Yes, if you are up for a decent thriller, do not expect too much from it and have spare time, go for it. And especially yes, if you like Seo Yea Ji's acting and her unconventional choice in scripts.

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It's rare for horror movies to get much of a rating. When you look at their ratings, you look more for anything above a 5, because if it has 8 or above, it must be a unicorn or something. While this wasn't a unicorn, it hit all the buttons for me in terms of creepy.

I tend to not like supernatural stories that much, as I find that people can be far scarier than ghosts. This story managed to balance a line with the aspect of a haunted place and not feeling so focused on this abstract supernatural being. It was a haunting. Not a martian or a big bad wolf. The movie also played with timing, which I appreciated. In typical horror flicks, you have a 1-2 reaction with something popping up. There were points in this where the image held and so if you closed your eyes for a second and opened them expecting it to be done, you'd be wrong. Even at points when there was looking away and back again, it didn't follow a 1-2-bang punch. You kept thinking this would be the time, and so when it finally was, it was like being grabbed by the throat.

The music was just right to get an eerie feel and add that essence of "this sounds sweet and playful while also sounding ominous and like I may lose my head." The acting was solid, and while the story is not original, it was done in a way that didn't feel like I was watching the exact same movie with different actors. What really shows that the images held up for themselves is that the subtitles were less than perfect, and yet the aspect of terror was still projected.

Horror movies are incredibly subjective, but this one definitely had me covering my eyes for a minute and is something I would rewatch with a friend.

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Had to watch at x2 speed because of the script

This show was very hard to get through, even at x2 speed. The acting isn't bad and the cast did good in their roles, it's just the script that is so lacking. When it comes down to it, the show is basically just three guys simping after the girls the entire show, while the girls just keep them wrapped around their fingers with the help from the clearly biased writers. 95% of the show consists of some form of misunderstanding or unnecessary drama that causes the female characters to become upset with the male characters, only to have the male characters try and chase after them and win them over for the next 3 episodes, and then it just repeats. You get maybe a few minutes of brief happiness and cute moments in their relationships, only to have another misunderstanding and lack of communication happen that causes the girls to become upset again. If you can get past the 95% of conflict in every relationship in this show (especially the two leads), then I guess the remaining 5% is somewhat enjoyable. Unfortunately, the conflict and drama lasts up until the very last few episodes, so at that point you basically have to suffer through the FL being mad at the ML for the entire show.

I think part of it is that the show is definitely catered more towards a specific audience that just enjoys seeing handsome guys chase after the girls in a show, and care less about a good script or balanced characters. Most of the male characters in this show are written so poorly, while others are just evil, corrupt, sexist, or harassers. The ML, Xin Qi, was especially done dirty by the writers. His character had barely any character outside of his heart condition and simping for the FL. Even his heart condition was put on the backburner in order to focus more on the "jealous" boyfriend moments and making him act like a child for the majority of the show in order to win over the FL. I swear I barely ever saw him actually working, he was just pursuing the FL the entire time, whether it was to get with her or to see his child. I can't even count how many times the writers pulled the "jealous" boyfriend card and had Xin Qi following the FL as she met up with countless guys that were only written in to create these jealous BF moments. And yet there is no 2FL or love rival to Min Hui (unless you count the childhood friend who died, but she's only in the show through flashbacks). I wish they had given Xin Qi more to his role besides pursuing Min Hui.

The side characters aren't much better either. Some of the conflicts were written so poorly that I cringed. Cao Mu wanting to break up with Jia Jun just because he was planning on proposing to her made very little sense. If she truly cared for him, why wouldn't she try talking it out first and working things out? Why immediately try breaking things off? At one point, Min Hui got so upset with Xin Qi because he "didn't trust her", even though he told her that he just wanted to find out the truth about what happened to his childhood friend. This happened literally in the same scene where he finally confessed to her and it looked like they were going to finally get together, all because of the cliche "plot-twist" connecting all the leads together (I'm trying not to spoil too much, so forgive the generalizations). Min Hui then proceeds to stay mad at Xin Qi for multiple episodes, all while Xin Qi spends the entire time trying to apologize and make it up to her, even though he's not entirely in the wrong either. If anything, Min Hui also didn't trust Xin Qi enough to tell him about his child or the events that happened in the past, and she also lied to him about pretending to be his dead childhood friend. She also treats him like dirt for the majority of the show, and the writers also seem to use Xin Qi as sort of a "punching bag" when it came to embarrassing himself, acting like a child, being constantly rejected but still pursuing, and always being in the wrong even when he wasn't.

To sum it all up, Xin Qi was too childish and there was no push and pull to the lead relationship because he was just simping the entire time, Min Hui was too angry the majority of the show and didn't let anyone explain themselves (only leading to further misunderstandings). There were so many moments when she would eavesdrop on others talking about her and would only hear the negative things said, and then walk away right when they start talking about the positive things about her, leading to yet another misunderstanding that isn't even resolved well. Cao Mu and Chen Jia Jun were admittingly cute together despite the age gap, and it was refreshing to see them together when there was so much conflict between the ML & FL, however Cao Mu did not treat Jia Jun very nicely at times, and Jia Jun was just another Xin Qi in that his whole world revolved around his love and nothing else mattered. The love triangle with Zhou Ru Ji was unnecessary and just made misunderstandings even more painful to watch, and his relationship with Zi Zhu was not very interesting or cute. Of course, the "evil" characters are obviously evil, so I don't need to talk about disliking them because they were meant to be disliked (just obvious sexists and harassers). I did really like the kid who played the son (Quan Quan). He was a good actor for his age and did well in his role, although he was that stereotypical kid role that you see in many of these dramas, where he's just way too smart for his age. I will say that the character Cindy was one of the only characters that I didn't really have a problem with. She was just fun and had a good personality.

Started off watching at normal speed, then bumped it up to 1.5x, and then found myself watching at x2 speed nearing the end because it was so repetitive. Maybe if you don't care for well thought out scripts or balanced characters, then you'll enjoy the show. Maybe if you just want to watch handsome guys simp after the girls for 28 episodes then you'll like it. I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea. Thanks for reading to the end if you made it this far!

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This drama was great! I watched this drama for Jumpei at first because he was the only actor in this drama that I knew. But I also watched this for the plot.

Story: The plot is school-genre like story, but the 35 year old woman going back to high school was a plot twist itself. I never heard anyone over 22 being in high school taking regular classes. Some of the arcs are predictable, but there are enough twists in this drama to keep you interested.

Acting: I'm envious of Yonekura Ryoko for pulling off a high school uniform. She kind of reminds me of Horita Maki when I saw the picture of Ryoko in the drama poster(looks wise). Acting-wise, Ryoko was amazing in this role. I could connect with her character even if I'm not 35! :) I was surprised that I didn't like Jumpei's character in the middle of this drama till his arc came around(I liked him in the beginning & after his arc). The students the story focused on were amazing. Some better than others. I've never seen any of the actors/actresses(or don't remember if I've seen them before or not). Overall, the ensemble cast was amazing.

Music: I like the mini theme song. It sets the tone. The BGM are great, some are not memorable.

Will I rewatch this?: Yes, I will rewatch this drama for the Baba, Koizumi & the student's character development.

You'll like this drama if you like school dramas, comedy, suspense, & the actors and actresses in this drama.

I like Baba & Koizumi together!!!

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Good chemistry, one loud Eunuch! (Not much of a spoiler inside;))

To sum this up, it's a tale about contradictions between parents & their children, the innocents lost in an attempt to pursue progression and the love found in the process.

Hae Ryung!!! I love this girl!! I'm right there with her, *sigh* village spinster/maiden for life with books all around <3 but we can't have that, now can we? And the prince, Jin Yi Rim, is just too beautiful & cute not to stare at! haha and fall in love with. Yi Rim is like Cinderella and is so sweetly innocent, pure hearted, it saddens me when the only person he knows as his father shows him little regard and strips him of his joys.

Now an interlude, why's she's interested in the prince... "She needed someone she could throw at the tiger so she could runaway..." XD

This is soo fun & funny!! Love it, sound effects and all XD <3 Definitely worth watching

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Fabulous Acting, Great CGI, Great Story

This is one of the very few dramas that I find so relaxing and enjoyable. It is very funny and yet not comical. The humors come mostly from the marvelous acting, the dialogues and the dynamics between the characters. As this is a drama revolving around supernatural phenomena, the CGI here is simply top-notched. This drama is the third season of the Wu Xin series. Despite this, the timeline is a lot earlier than the previous two series, setting in the Tang dynasty period. One doesn't need to watch the previous two seasons to understand this one; everything is explained clearly and flows nicely. This drama stands alone as a complete series.

Elvis Han (plays Wu Xin) is a marvelous actor. He has an air of maturity and provides stability in every situation he's in, and yet he doesn't lack that humorous and playful demeanor. I really enjoy all his scenes. As a man with no heart, (his name Wu Xin literally means no heart in Chinese), he's an immortal. The use of homophone and puns with his name is hilarious as the phrase wu xin can also mean "unintentional". But Wu Xin is so fed up with living forever that he contracts killers to kill himself as he has not been successful in doing so himself. His journey in seeking his own death is simply so outrageous and funny. I really enjoy the parts when Wu Xin is possessed by Liu Xuan Hu making him taking opposite actions and bickering within himself. The scenes are so funny and Elvis Han is fabulous in acting out both characters at the same time.

Comes the girl that falls for him, and eventually he for her. Chen Yao (aka Sabrina Chen) plays both roles as a twin girl in Liu Qing Luan and her twin brother in Liu Xuan Hu. With a slender physique, Chen Yao's portrayal of Liu Xuan Hu is amazing as she looks like a weak, sickly, feminine boy who excels academically. No one knows the talented scholar has an identical twin sister who helps settle scores for him. One really cannot tell if Liu Xuan Hu is a boy or a girl, even Wu Xin is confused; he has treated Liu Xuan Hu as a boy when in actual fact it's Liu Qing Luan's disguise. The discovery process is so funny, and Elvis Han's expression of surprise is an outstanding acting. Switching in and out of her role as a male and female character, Chen Yao has done a fantastic job. Bravo to her amazing acting.

In their quest to seek death for Wu Xin and cure for Liu Xuan Hu sickly body (what an irony), they encounter mysteries and crimes. Every event is related to another and unfolds nicely over time, usually through medium and "fa shu" delivered by the Taoist master. The initial unseen dark force that seems to mastermind everything turns out to be a previous acquaintant of Wu Xin. Their relationship, dynamics and dialogues are just a joy to watch. The seemingly unseen fearsome and mysterious character suddenly becomes a person with a cartoonish looking mask. Many of the characters that seem to be sinister in the beginning turn out to be harmless. One of my most enjoyable moments is watching Elvis Han handling a baby; he's such a pro and the scenes where both powerful fa shi, Wu Xin and Bai Liu Li, rendered helpless by a crying baby is just hilarious.

As expected, when an immortal falls in love with a mortal, how the ending would be. As Liu Qing Luan ages and finally dies in Wu Xin's arms, Wu Xin is still as youthful but the pain he is suffering is immeasurable, though this is the umpteenth time he is going through it. Each time, the pain of loss of a loved one is new and unforgettable for him. The only way to relieve himself from all these pains is not through death (which he can't die) but through letting go. Finally, Wu Xin realizes that he needs to forget after every life that leaves him, and to start afresh. That's the only way to continue living to eternity.

Oh, have I mentioned the sound tracks (OSTs)? They are very good. Love them!

Don't be misled by the low rating. This drama should have received a much higher rating had it not because English subs are not available at the moment of its airing. Many non-Chinese speaking viewers are unfortunately not able to enjoy this fine drama.

For me, this drama is unexpectedly good. If you can understand Chinese, or able to find English subs, do watch it. It's a drama that would make you laugh because of the funny dialogues and human to human dynamics. The mystical supernatural phenomenon is intriguing, and most importantly, great acting and great story telling make this a must-watch drama.

Two thumbs up!

Leggi di Più

promising premise and beginning, disappointed with the execution

Overall: I enjoyed the unique premise but had major issues with the plot. Aired on GagaOOLala & Viki.

Content Warnings: violence/blood (in the first scene), murder, trauma, grief, attempted kidnapping, non con kiss (sleeping)

What I Liked
- the premise was unique and rarely seen in BL
- production value
- retelling of the first episode from a different perspective

Room For Improvement
- I wish that Jae Woo and Ji Woon's parents were friends and Jae Woo had just moved into the same city, because... it felt odd befriending a kid like that/having a 10 year old sleep over in a dorm room, it was a bit squicky to me and speaking of...
- Jae Woo was very childlike and stupid for a 25 year old, it made the relationship dynamic even more strange
- their total lack of communication about something suuuppppppeeeerrrr important, like come on
- nonsense things besides the initial premise, a 10 year old regularly walks around at night alone when there is violence in the area? money? ID? same outfit every day?
- why do they like each other, love at first sight? but it was initially an uncle/nephew like relationship, when/why did it change?
- the non con kiss and also this line "I'm going to do something I know you don't like" (and he kisses him, wth?)
- what in the sisyphean hell was that ending?

Leggi di Più