Reviews

I wasn’t initially interested in watching this due to my bad experience with “The World that They Live In” (dropped it after 4 episodes) but because I had liked a lot of the dramas On Air’s writer has done (Secret Garden, City Hall, Lovers) I added this to my list although, it wasn’t on my “got to watch anytime” soon list. Then, I started getting more familiar with Lee Bum Soo and wanted to see all his past dramas…

Story- Unexpectedly fascinating! Really the plot isn’t anything flashy but I still found myself glued to the screen from episode 1. The writer did such a great job of showing what it takes for a drama to be made in a way that is informative but not boring whatsoever. I will say the romance in this was quite weak. A lot of the good stuff only happens in the last 2 episodes. And even then the romance between LBS & Kim Ha Neul’s character was kind of disappointing. I mean there was no confession scene and its not definite whether they are a couple at the end. I did like that the loveliness were quite clear and everyone ended up with the right partner. The ending was satisfying.

Cast/Acting- It was perfect. The 4 main actors are veterans so I cant really say anything bad. They all had good chemistry with each other. Like the two female characters hate each other in the beginning so they made you believe they really hated each other. I liked the supporting cast they really added something to the show. I will say that the two main female characters are kind of unlikable at times but you’ll get used to it.

Music- I actually liked a lot of the songs enough to put them on my ipod to listen to every now and then.

Rewatch- I’ll watch this again but not for a few years just because it wasn’t heavy on the romance.

Overall, if you liked the writers past dramas or are a fan of any of the main actors I would definitely recommend On Air.

Leggi di Più

An Academy Award deserving series!

This is the 4th Chinese drama that I’ve watched but it is by far the best. The professionalism and chemistry of all of the actors is hard to beat. Coming from the US, being a writer of fiction myself, I love the amazing character development. The directors and producers absolutely did a fantastic job with casting. I’m one of the few fans out there that do not view WYB and XZ or their characters as a couple though I understand that’s what the novel said. Instead, theirs is a brotherhood and bond rarely seen nowadays and brings memories of the 1940s and comrades in war (and I mean that for both the actors and their characters). The younger generations today aren’t used to this. I do wish there was better continuation within the series as many scenes were a bit out of whack. Thank you for a wonderful series Tencent that I can’t stop rewatching since mid-December! This series deserves an Oscar because it rivals many shows on TV from many countries especially here in the US. I can’t wait for Oath of Love, Legend of Fei, Doulou Continent, and every other production these young and talented young men will do. A million times thank you!

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Left Wanting . . .

A longing that in its infancy couldn't be realized. Brimming over with desire and shame, The Time of Fever captured the curiosity, confusion, and fear that often come with the experience of young love for Queer people. Chosen isolation, violent battles waged alone in your mind, denial, hesitant steps forward before sprinting away, jealousy, and parental abuse/distance.

The cinematography and sound design lent themselves to becoming the two MLs' senses, directing our attention to where their attention was. When Dong Hee picks up on Ho Tae's breathing and everything else goes quiet, when in a tension-filled moment, after allowing his gaze to linger, Ho Tae notices Dong Hee's eyes nervously flitting away from his own. The overwhelming grip of Ho Tae's hand on Dong Hee's shoulder, the taste of citrus on Dong Hee's tongue, and the scent of rain surrounding them and soaking both their clothes.

I was beckoned in and captured. Every moment was raw and real enough to make my own breath stop or send a shiver down my spine.

The only reason I considered giving this less than a 10/10 is because it sparked a longing in ME for more.

What are you doing? Go watch it!

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Major spoiler, read at your own risk.

Gosh, I just finish this drama and I got a lot to say. I'm so angry at the writer, I mean is it really the intention to write it this way or is there some kind of accident happen in the middle of writing or maybe its somehow a mistake? Lmao, pardon my rage, I kinda have a huge expectation for this drama but they slapped me with a disappointment instead.
First of all, TOO MANY PLOT TWISTS. I love plot twist, really, I would cheer in happiness for a good plot twist whether its bad or happy ending, but this drama really take it to another level. It really feels like this writer took every plot twist exists in dramaland and crammed it in this one. The first part of the story was fine then they just decided the leads need a new life to show that a mere human act really can't bring down a couple who are match made in heaven, but that's where it all started going wrong.
I wouldn't bother to explain the actors and actresses acting, they were not great but they were not bad either. The female lead acting is pretty good, her character and her acting didn't really have the awkward moment, and especially her facial expression, I kinda impress with her though the male lead is a one dissappointing act but it's kinda acceptable, he is not one who express feeling anyway so I don't really expect great acting from him. And personally I think, there are too many unnecessary characters. Like the evil character who didn't really do his job or a good character who have bad ending or stupid plot twist in the end. So unnecessary.
And finally, TOO MANY LOOSE ENDS. Like I said, there are some characters that here before gone without any explanation just because the leads got new life. And in the end where the leads can 'finally' be together they just decided it will good for them to start where they 'actually' meet for the first time without even bothering to return their old memories, like how could Rong Zhi know about that place, why he choose to hide there and why Chuyu just decided to visit her house secretly in the end (AND WHY THE HELL THERE ARE NO ONE KNOW RONG ZHI LIVE THERE THAT'S THE PRINCESS'S HOUSE FORGODSAKE). I'm trying to make sense every weird things that happen in this drama, for example that problematic ending. Like, maybe since they're in the middle of the war, so guards wouldn't bother to protect the empty house anyway. Or why the 'caretakers' didn't know about Rong Zhi, well he is Wei's so maybe Song's people don't know about him even though Wei almost take over Song(and the fact he used to live there). But then my logic step in and yelling, WELL PRECISELY ITS BECAUSE THEY'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WAR, IF SONG'S HAVE BEEN TAKEN OVER, SHOULDN'T THE ROYAL HOUSE THAT GOT SECURE FIRST? AND THEY ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WAR, WHY THE HELL CHUYU WOULD RETURN TO HER HOUSE RISKING TO GET CAUGHT EITHER BY SONG'S OR WEI'S PEOPLE? lmao this drama making me crazy I'm sorry.
Not just they didn't return the leads memory, they didn't have many skinship. I mean I don't even expect any kiss, but they are the leads forgodsake, and they are married AND they love each other. If they want to show an innocent love, they should've execute it better than this. I just couldn't feel their innocent love. All I can feel is their love life are so wasted I wish they just never meet again after they forget each other and live their own life.
Good thing about this drama? Maybe OST? I like the opening and the ending songs. When I watch drama I usually skipped the opening and ending, but I actually enjoy the songs that I stopped ff-ing to watch the ending and the opening just to hear the songs.
Rewatch? Not a rewatch material, but if someday I miss them, I'll probably just watch their cute moments together and end with it.

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Wow, what a great show with a Daebak ending! Can't wait for season 2 to come - I've heard it's coming out in January!

Story: The Prince and his two guards/friends form the Three Musketeers. They, along with Park Dal Hyang go around causing havoc by trying to bring peace - it's a very enjoyable ride.

Cast: Park Dal Hyang (Jung Yong Hwa) a country boy who practiced hard enough to become a guard in Hanyang where he soon meets the Three Musketeers and their journey begins. He is a very sincere yet naïve person who I believe matured during the duration of the drama. Prince So Hyeon (Lee Jin Wook) my personal favorite character, he's always joking and laughing but he does have a scar that has prevented his relationship with the Crown Princess Yoon Seo - through the princes friends Heo Seung Po & Ahn Min Seo as well as newcomer Dal Hyang his heart begins to open to his wife <3 Their scenes together were some of my personal favorite scenes to watch^^ These characters are constantly going through ups and downs during this drama (and it's only season 1)! Mi Ryeong/Hyang Sun is basically the antagonist - she's evil any way you look at her. And I swear the King is the stupidest person on this show.

Music: I remember only 1 song and that's the song where the lyrics say one for all all for one lol - I love that song.

Re-watch Value: 10/10 I would LOVE to re-watch this at some point - but not until all 3 seasons are complete^^

Overall this drama is very enjoyable to watch, you will be laughing, crying, going WTH?! lol - all sorts of emotions and they make the show amazing!

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Okay as filler drama

This is just an OKAY drama. The political stuff was not interesting. The sets and costumes were very nice. Visually appealing. The ending was happy and it reflected the nature of the romance in the show which is the main reason I was able to finish this show.
The ML falls first and hard and remains loyal to the end. It is a matter of fact kind of romance. He stays by her side through everything but not in a white knight complex kind of way. He just stands by and is there if she needs him. In fact there was a whole scene dedicated to him literally waiting for her and her just taking it all in stride as is the nature of their relationship.
The FL is smart. Has a life goal and states more than once that romance is great but she must complete her goals. I like that messaging and the strength of the character.
This drama has over ones of Romeo and Juliet. Watch for those themes and how they portray them.
Other thing I enjoyed was the sword play and wire work. There was enough for those of us who enjoy these scenes. The beauty of the swordplay without the gory violence.
The ending almost feels Perfect for a sequel or a series with each episode showing the intrepid couple solving mysteries. I would watch them.

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This was an...interesting movie, to say the least. The set design and costumes are probably the biggest selling points - the film is visually gorgeous (director Chen Kaige clearly put a lot of thought in his vision of what the Tang Dynasty and the imperial palace looked like). The narrative is where the film struggled. It's important to remember that this is a Chinese/Japanese collaboration that is based on a Japanese novel that is based on speculation of real historical events in China (that's a mouthful). Thus, there's historical inaccuracies and artistic liberties taken all over the place, but if you treat it as purely fictional, it might be a lot easier to digest.

Huang Xuan and and Japanese actor Shota Sometani star as the leads - but really they are merely tools for the narration of this story, which honestly kind of took me out of the core story at times. I get that the original novel used this element as well, but I do think it felt a little extra at times - that we were sacrificing the meat of the story to give the two stars more screentime. Huang Xuan plays Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi, and it was kind of a weird performance from him. I think part of that is the director's fault, but the character was just a bit all over the place. Shota Sometani's Kukai was much better, and he gave a pretty good performance as the somewhat mysterious monk (yes, all the Japanese actors have their voices dubbed - though they do have some lines where they speak Japanese). The two pair up to find out why a demon cat has been haunting the capital.

The real story revolves around the famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) Yang Guifei, the imperial consort of the Emperor Xuanzong - and the circumstances surrounding her death. This is the part of the story where it becomes purely fictional and speculative - but it was definitely the most interesting part of the film. I don't know where I read this, but apparently in the novel, the author had described her being of mixed blood, so the casting of Sandrine Pinna makes a little bit more sense (as you can imagine, mainland audiences were not impressed by a Taiwanese/French Yang Guifei).

Sandrine is gorgeous in her role (seriously, she looks absolutely stunning in ancient costume) and had a dignity and loneliness to her that suited the character well - the only thing that kind of throws you off is that Yang Guifei has been known historically as having a very voluptuous figure (Sandrine is on the slender side). Yang Guifei is so famous for this in China that it has become part of her characterization - and it was more noticeable because actress Kitty Zhang, who plays another character in the film, does have that kind of figure. I imagine they wanted Sandrine more for her face and overall presence so it's not a huge deal - just an interesting note.

I would have liked to seen more of Zhang Luyi's Emperor Xuanzong and gotten a glimpse of what exactly he was thinking throughout the film, but I guess it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. The love that they had for each other could have also done better - I think I got a pretty good hint of what their relationship looked like, but I do think it could have been explored more since it was such a crucial part of the story. Hiroshi Abe's character was also an interesting foil to the Emperor.

Liu Haoran and Ou Hao are the two youngsters in the cast and let's just say I was quite surprised by their importance to the story, especially Liu Haoran's Bai Long. I've seen the BTS clips of the way they're styled for the film and wasn't sure how I felt about it, but it's pretty stunning once you see them in motion. Liu Haoran famously lost 20 pounds for the role after Chen Kaige looked at him and said he was a little too chubby (which I think is ridiculous because the boy is already built like a stick), but it worked well for the role visually. The two's characters also added a dimension to the story that I wasn't expecting, but welcomed as it actually made the story come alive for me.

I think I've used the word "visually" probably at least six times already - and that kind of goes to show where most of the thought went into for this film. The core storyline was interesting, but screentime was limited - Huang Xuan and Shota Sometani probably had triple the amount of appearances than anyone else. Considering that they aren't directly involved, it just slows the pace down significantly and makes the transitions seem a bit choppy (it also disturbs your emotional attachment to the characters). But if you cast stars, you've got to give them screentime, right?

This was an ambitious attempt by the director, and the film covered a wild variety of themes and motifs, but probably bit off more than they could chew. Still, I enjoyed it for what it was a - a treat for the eyes and an explorative look at a well known story and characters.

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Not for everyone.. but interesting nonetheless.

I acknowledge that this drama is not universally popular or liked, but has value or merit in its own way.

It is quite a tricky feeling to watch the backstory of annoyingly criminal minded villans. or rather how they became villans. if given another choice will they still be devilish? I was thinking about the Female villan.
The series is cleverly crafted in a way that makes you think it might another typical repeating drama and you start predicting it and start betting who is the criminal.. because of this reason I find it interesting to watch. I don't understand why it recieved low ratings. It deserves a little better rating.

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A decent adaptation of "The Good Doctor"

Firstly, this is an adaptation of the KRDrama, The Good Doctor, where the main character is an autistic savant and not suffering from Asperger's.

At only 16 episodes, this is a relatively short drama and a rather different medical drama, where it's about the main character struggles with autism and his insecurities.

While the description on MDL states that it's Asperger's syndrome, this is not true and Asperger's is not mentioned anywhere in the drama at all. There is also another review criticizing the drama solely because Asperger's syndrome is not portrayed well in the drama, which again, is based on incorrect information.

In all the adaptions of the Good Doctor and The US Drama, the main character has autism, and never Asperger, and it should be the same for this adaptation as well. As the description is translated by another MDL user, it should be a mistranslation as Asperger's is on the spectrum of Autism (probably machine translated).

That said, this drama does has it's difference from the other counterparts. Ignoring the obvious medical cases, plot and characters, one main difference this drama has, is that most, if not all of the characters in the show are very, very encouraging and supportive of the MC compared to it's other iterations where the MC has to constantly prove himself, which makes this a very heartwarming drama.

Finally, the other reviewer solely criticizing the show for it's bad portrayal of Asperger's and gave it a very harsh score which I think is unfair, as again, it's never mentioned that the MC actually has Asperger's in the show and it should be a mistranslation on MDL's description as Asperger's and Autism are both on on the Autism Spectrum and very similar.

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First off, my rating is based on emotional attachment, and that's just how I am. :P If I were to be completely logical it would most likely be a 9, but my love bumps it up. haha

When I first ran into this drama, I had no real interest. The cast members looked cute, but I didn't really have a desire to watch a story about some guy opening a vegetable store with a ragtag group of friends. I need romance, and the synopsis they have for this drama is so horribly lacking that I didn't even expect any. Except, that's half the drama! I was surprised and hooked from episode one until the end!! Normally they don't want you to put a synopsis in your review, but since the one they have is so lacking, I'm going to a little.

Tae Yang (played by Ji Chang Wook) and Jin Shim (played by Wang Ji Hye) were childhood friends, a couple, but because of an event (no spoilers) they split up and years pass. When they meet again, they don't know it's each other because Jin Shim is using a different name. (I hope no one sees this as a spoiler, because honestly any other drama would put that much information up in their synopsis usually) Now Jin Shim is an heiress and her mother has a deep rooted grudge against Tae Yang. Ok, that's where I'll stop with my synopsis because frankly, I'm a little upset that a lot of people are placing the mom in the typical rich wife category. The reason she goes after Tae Yang so much is because of this grudge she has, not just because he's a vegetable owner. As insane as she is, and she is clinically insane, I understand that hatred to a point. She's one of the most terrifying villains I've seen in a drama, and man does her acting just blow me away. I was actually scared of her in many scenes, because she's just a woman who's ready to die for what she wants, and is always just a step away from the edge.
The romance between the two leads was amazing to watch, and even though I think Wang Ji Hye didn't quite match up in acting ability to Ji Chang Wook, she held her own ok. Ji Chang stole my heart right away, and his acting always surprised me. Not matter what scene he was in, he stole it right away. The way the main pair just understood each other, was drawn to each other, and Tae Yang's unyielding love for Jin Shim was heart warming and heart breaking at times. I really fell in love with these characters. On top of the romance that I'm still going back to re-watch, the bromance between the "fresh Men" was so fun to watch!! It was cheesy and cliche, but so satisfying! You also get to know each one of them, their back stories, what they're going through in their own lives, and you get to see them grow into men.

The music is one part where I got annoyed with this drama. There's this one song they play sometimes during the "touching" scenes that just made me want to punch the person who decided on that song selection. XD It wasn't so bad that it turned me away, but they could have done better.

I will be re-watching this drama a lot, because it's fun and warmed my heart. It also taught me a few lessons about how to deal with set backs and just how one tragedy can ripple outwards and utterly destroy someone's mentality, and how that damaged person poisons everyone.

Overall, I'm defensive of this drama because I love it so much, but I do acknowledge that I may just have twisted tastes and not everyone will watch it with my mind frame. I just hope you give it a chance and not start watching it with certain expectations off of the synopsis they have up, because you will find something different from what's there. If you watch it because of my review and don't like it, I'm sorry, but if you love it, you're welcome. haha jk :P

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Overrated work of art?

I guess it was my high expectations because of the praise that this show has got so far but when I watched it I couldn't really connect with it the way I wished to...
First of all the editing was weird in some cases, I was just left confused on the overall pacing of the story and the decisions made on continuation of it. Even if it was intentional it just didn't help what felt like a very lackluster story.
By the end I expected to learn more specially about Jae Won to really know his back story and the way he acted, and while I did understand his actions it felt overall lacking and like they could've explored more but decided to leave it vague, which just by the end made me not connect with him as I would've liked to.
A great portion of the characters (specially the ones in the club) were unlikeable, and were mostly forgiven or left without consequence in the end, which just made it harder to keep watching.
The music was alright and story could've been better, just the execution felt weird and even if experimental or different to what's out there in terms of BL it felt too cliche and weirdly paced in a lot of the cases, like if it wanted to focus more on the psyche of the characters why not show more of the therapy sessions of Jae Won for example instead of only snippets in some episodes for example.
I've been enjoying the last K-BL releases but this one just isn't up there for me, which makes me disappointed and makes it feel overrated in the end.

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A Good Side-Story…

We’ve all been there . The show or production which won our hearts, ignites intensified hope over news of a sequel or spin-off in the making, hype is sparked online and by word of mouth and then when we act will then receive the actual final product, it is often with mixed-results.

‘ Ashin: Kingdom Of The North’ could’ve easily gone in either of these directions. An official spin-off by original director Kim Sung Hoon and screenwriter Kim Eun Hee of the hit zombie period-series ‘ Kingdom’, ‘ Ashin: Kingdom Of The North’ had a lot of excitement and worry by watchers around the delivered result of a whole production focusing on a side character only shown briefly at the end of the second season.

As a character, the special is quick to cut short to the chase about her past without feeling disregarded or predominating screen time. The daughter of a secret spy who is devoted to Joseon in a border village, Ashin’s revenge becomes more prominent as the story plays out and takes her down many wrong paths. It was intriguing to see how the production could balance out between actually developing Ashin as more than a one-dimensional shell, by duelling this onscreen tale with the threat of the zombie outbreak beginning to take root. Yet viewers should not worry as the production balances out the two storylines as two sides of the same coin; different, yet helping to interchangeably motivate the events of one another as the production progresses.

As this was shown from Ashin’s view of the world at times, it was intriguing to wonder whether any original characters from ‘ Kingdom’ would pop up in the storyline. Sure enough, actor Park Byung Eun took a fairly central role again as Min Chi Rok, the heroic inspector general from the main storyline of ‘ Kingdom’. Intriguingly unlike in ‘ Kingdom’ and as prior events to the main storyline it was fairly astounding to see Chi Rok in a more antagonistic light. Whilst ‘ Ashin: Kingdom of North’ was merely the necessary foreground in order to establish the titular character properly before later seasons and there is still a lot of potential with understanding Chi Rok’s motives, it would have been equally interesting to invested a little bit of side time here within understanding Chi Rok’s shift from villainous to righteousness between the two storylines.

Of course any critique of this production would not be complete without mentioning the brilliance of Jun Ji Hyun as Ashin, as well of course younger actress Kim Shi Ah as Ashin’s younger-self. However , Ashin's character in this special episode doesn’t have a lot of dialogue opportunities. It is understandable this is meant to reflect Ashin’s sense of character, and Ji Hyun is really good with the source material ( even without as many speaking opportunities), but this is certainly a more critical point to note.

‘ Ashin; Kingdom Of The North’ was an outstanding move by the director and screenwriter to establish and bring to life Ashin as an individual in her own right, without straying away from the violent, historical or political undertones of past seasons. Although the storyline sometimes wobbled underneath the problem of with scenes over the long duration time, drawing away from the more thrilling adrenaline-infused rush of action shots, the screenwriter was by no means a mess. The special intensifies the warring troubles of political instability amongst the people, a spine-tingling soundtrack accompanied by beautiful cinematography, historically accurate onscreen costumes and dialogue that is further captivated by the brilliant performances of the main cast. A good watch.

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This is an excellent drama! Comedy/murder mystery is always a winning combination if done correctly, and Saengchori certainly was. The writing in this drama is fantastic -- there are typical K-drama over-the-top jokes, sure, but plenty of clever little bits and references to other dramas that make it an absolute joy to watch. The acting is quite good, and the cast works well off each other's reactions. This is the kind of drama where you will find all the characters interesting and worth paying attention to, not just the main characters. Not much to say about the music, but the scattered use of Phantom of the Opera themes was a joy to say the least.

Some people may have issues with the pacing, since even though it is a murder mystery suspense, the bulk of the drama is kind of slice-of-life office life. However, the show is so fun and well-done that this did not bother me, personally. The only thing that seemed a bit off was the inevitable romance arc, but it certainly wasn't the focus of the show.

If you are looking for an all around wonderful drama that is different from your usual drama fare, this would be the perfect one to add to your list!

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Small town vibe

Likes: Seo Kang Joon's insane visuals. His sweet shyness. Kim Hwan Hee's hilarious cheerful spirit as his younger sister. Lee Jae Wook's comic timing

Dislikes: I didn't feel the sparks between the OTP nor did I really care for the story. The pace was too slow for me.

I think I'm just not a huge fan of these quiet type dramas like Something in the Rain or One Spring Night where the quietness fills the room. The pace is just too slow and I wind up getting bored. I only hung on because A) quite frankly, there wasn't much else to watch and B) Seo Kang Joon finally picked a role that he was suited for where I can finally indulge in watching his sweet shyness play out.

Unfortunately, I didn't really feel that cracklin chemistry between him and Park Min Young. It felt like acting. I usually only live for the OTP in dramas, but here I found myself more interested in Kim Hwan Hee's lively shenanigans or Lee Jae wook's funny situations. The drama has a small town vibe so if you don't mind things just sort of moseying along, then this might be up your alley.

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good character growth

Overall: I liked seeing two flawed characters (and yes Shin is flawed as well as he pushes and ignores Minato's boundaries multiple times) and Minato's character growth. Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: non con touching/kissing, manhandling, internalized homophobia, non con photo taking, a high school senior (17 then 18) and a 28 year old (this aspect did not bother me personally)

What I Liked
- cute intro and closing credits/songs (watch the final episode closely as they are different!)
- that they actually communicated with one another, talked about their thoughts and feelings
- the food shirts that Minato wore
- how scenes towards the end of the final episode mirrored scenes in earlier episodes
- acting
- production value (cinematography, music)

Room For Improvement
- the pacing was a bit too slow with the whole teacher near conversation multiple times, that should have happened sooner
- I actually wished Shin had had some character growth and the ending had gone a slightly different direction
- I liked the sister and friend, couldn't care less for that depressing lump and did not enjoy the side couple
- continuity error with sheet placement
- the technique at the very end needed improvement but I'll give them a break as it might have been both of their first times

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