Reviews

Love Story between a Mortal and an Immortal

This drama starts off very good – beautiful actors, beautiful costumes, interesting story line. After the first couple of episodes, it begins to go all over the place. Poor script writing, plenty of plot holes, editing flaws (they even photoshop an actor's face onto another), confusing acting from the female lead, among others.

I was initially put off by Fu Jiuyun (Zheng Yecheng) for his flamboyance, especially towards Qing Chuan (Zhao Lusi); his hands are all over her and she doesn’t seem to care. In fact, she gives the impression of liking such attention – being teased and pinched by Fu Jiuyun. As a Princess, Yanyan is dignified, determined and worshipped by all. In her disguise as Qing Chuan, a maid servant under Fu Jiuyun, waiting for her revenge, she has a total change in character. She loses her initial charisma which I feel is a poor script writing and also poor acting. Though I like Zhao Lusi as an actor and I like her other dramas, I don’t feel she fits into this Qing Chuan character very well. Zhao Lusi is cute and can be silly, but her acting is confusing as the Qing Chuan character who is supposed to be dignified, determined and strong. Zhao Lusi doesn’t have the charisma a princess normally exudes. On top of that, Zhao Lusi tends to take a long pause before she starts talking. It really feels weird for me that she’s not spontaneous in answering even the most trivial questions. The only consolation I find is she pairs very well with Zheng Yecheng visually.

Zheng Yecheng has a layback carefree spirit to him. With his outrageously gorgeous face with soft features, acting as a celestial being with no worldly concerns, Zheng Yecheng fits perfectly as the Fu Jiuyun character. I love the scenes of him gazing at Qing Chuan with those loving eyes. One can really feel his love for her, unreserved and unconditional. He has great chemistry with Zhao Lusi.

There is a lot of illogical dialogues and scenes, even the logic itself is weird. Despite the poor storytelling, I find the costumes to be intriguing with great details. I love Fu Jiuyun’s simple white gowns. I also love those sophisticated gowns worn by Yanyan especially the gown she dances in. The sound track that plays whenever Jiuyun longs for Qing Chuan or vice versa is beautiful and heart-wrenching.

There is also a couple of scenes I love the most. The first one is the scene of Yanyan dancing to the song composed by Fu Jiuyun. The scene is so beautiful and breathtaking. The second scene is the very last scene when Qing Chuan runs towards Fu Jiuyun under the peach blossom tree. That scene is celestial and can only be found in legend.

The final episode is a lazy ending. It seems that the whole thing is just a dream by Yanyan as a little girl, or is it her reincarnation, or is it a parallel dimension thing? It’s confusing. The weirdest thing is our female lead just goes poof and reappears with her love in a different dimension.

I would watch this drama for Zheng Yecheng if you’re a fan. For me, he’s the only thing that keeps me going in completing the whole series.

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If your looking for an awesome rom com but also would like it to have meaning then this is for you.
When I read the summary i found the plot interesting so i decided to immediately start watching it. There were so many scenes that made me laugh out loud, and I really enjoy dramas with lots of comedy.

What really made me absolutely fall in love with this was the heartfelt and meaningful moments that made cry buckets and think about my life.
The acting was good and I think the romance between the two reads felt real.
Overall this is something you should definitely watch

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I went into this show hearing many praises about it. I didn’t go in looking forward to watching cheerleading which the show was apparently supposed to be centred on. But I was eager to watch it hearing much praise about it from non-Korean K-drama fans.

The story isn’t dissimilar to most high school K-dramas. But the amazing thing about K-dramas is their ability to take the same storyline and types of characters, and present them in just a slightly different way to audiences. There’s definitely a lot of cute in this show and generally makes for an enjoyable and light watch.

I can’t say Eunji didn’t do a good job in this show, as she seems to do in every drama she is in. But one thing that does disappoint me is that the character Yeon-doo does remind me of the other spunky female characters she’s played in her previous shows. I do hope she tries out other types of characters in her future projects.

I’ve not seen Lee Won Geun or Ji Soo in any major projects before this. I’ve only seen LWG in Moon Embracing the Sun but that was such a small role. These two are a revelation in this show! Their characters are quite different from each other, but they share a close friendship on the show. It really looked like they were having fun playing these characters. They both stole my heart in this show, so it’s hard to go any further without turning into a rabid fangirl, so all I’ll say is I’ll certainly be on the lookout for both these actors in their future projects.

Super props to Chae Soo Bin for playing what seemed like an absolutely irredeemable villain who went all out to ruin the lives of our protagonists, yet with an interesting backstory that still managed to pull at my heartstrings everytime. I just wanted to give her chance to redeem herself every time, no matter how many evil deeds she had done.

On a whole, the cast have great chemistry and make the show such fun to watch. Of course, there’s also the fact that it’s a high school drama and personally there’ll always be a place in my heart for high school dramas.

Another good thing about this show is it’s short at 12 episodes. The ending did feel slightly rushed and that’s a small stain on this show. Otherwise, highly recommended!

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A different drama

Almost every episode had a twist that leaves you dumbfounded and the leads did a superb job displaying such grey characters. My problem is that the main villain felt like a caricature compared to Hai Yiping. Kangping prince in the end came out as a royal who was lucky enough to have clever subordinates than being clever himself. His ending was also anticlimactic, and his arc didn't quite fit the tone of the whole drama making it look like an afterthought story addition, making the last episodes a bit draggy.
The main story though is truly hitting the spot. Torture and rape and the trauma caused are nicely delivered making the pain and suffering of the victims real and not just a McGuffin.
Now the romance felt like a much needed sneeze that was never realised despite the constant nose tingling. I'm sure you know how it feels. There was such potential there, especially in the last episode when they fell into the water. That would have made it chef's kiss.
All in all, the drama deserves more hype. It's one of the few that focus on 2 nobodies trying to make something better for their country, without any real ties to royalty and wealth and the only one I have watched that shows the strengths and depths of women power and friendship without turning them into simps halfway through the story.
P.S. the OST is shockingly good. It's the second drama I did not skip the intro

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Hilariously cute with a reasonably sound plot.

Uk those overdone wattpad fictions which have this bad mafia guy who tries to become good for that one girl. Well this was a much subtle and lighter version of that. The focus stays more on the ML's progressive changes in personality. It has a lot of comedic relief. And Kim Rae Won as always delivers whatever be the role. Jin Seon Kyu's character and bits, all witty and funny. And this very special cameo which I personally exclaimed at and enjoyed a lot. I will say that the skinship was a bit lacking but then that was only a subplot, plus the ending leaves you kinda giddy with some feel-good scenes. A very great one -time watch.

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Great Watch!

Vagabond contains a mass amount of tense, humorous, gripping, shocking and cleverly plotted and written moments to be truly called one of the greatest action dramas. The first episode is perhaps one of the greatest first episodes in the history of world drama television - tied with 'Stranger'. I wasn't familiar with the majority of the casting for this drama, however there were some phenomenal performances, making me want to research these cast members so I can purposely watch more dramas with these actors and actresses in them! I was a little disappointed in the ending of this drama, however I do believe there will be more than one season of Vagabond.

I think anyone has the chance to absolutely love this drama, I recommend everyone to give this a go when they can!

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Best ever romance story

A very subtle and charming love story. I really like the acting of the two main characters. There is no significant violence. A mother-in-law and grandmother who really love the female lead. The positive value of this drama is: that every human being has their own destiny. Past trauma and the divorce that happened to her parents made her reluctant to marry. But when she found her true love and the man treated her very well. Then the trauma slowly faded, and she was sure to have a very good married life, and protect and love him throughout his life. Wang gege and Wang Kaimu...hmmm they both did it very perfectly. Success to both of you.

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This show started off really well and the backstory/ set up was really promising. However, once it caught up to current times, the plot floundered. There was a real lack of story telling in this drama and I ended up pretty underwhelmed. The real saving grace of this show was the acting. Kim Rae Won and Park Shin Hye did a good job for the material they were given. There was some awkwardness in the beginning of the relationship, but then there was complete comfortableness and next to no drama. I wasn't a huge fan of Yoon Gyun Sang at first, but he grew on me through the run (but they definitely could have styled him better). Lee Sung Kyung was believable as a spoiled lonely rich girl. I enjoyed all the supporting characters save the doctor that played Seo Woo's father. He was so childish and immature that I found it hard to believe he was running a hospital. But the actor did a wonderful job of conveying the spirit of the character. He was immensely unlikable. There were lots of great cameos as well, and the most memorable was played by Nam Goong Min - his episodes were some of the better parts of the floundering middle. I wouldn't recommend this drama unless you are just a fan of the actors. There is not really a plot to it at all, and even as a hospital drama it was lacking. While it had a promising start, I only finished it because I was invested in seeing it to the end once I realized that the plot was never going to pick back up and that nothing was really happening to our main characters. All the action was happening around them instead.

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This drama is all about 2 key things 1)Love & learning how to love 2) growing up to become person you need to be, confidently. The subject was sensitive YET handled deftly by the GHJ & GY and cast who portray degrees of a relationships & shades of love. Lots of tears shed while watching with many of the sub-stories impacting youths, family, and schools and the yearning love of the GY...Funny, so many times we get caught viewing today though regrets glasses we cannot look ahead to see the things facing us cause we are wearing the wrong glasses. GREAT drama for all who love good story telling, electric chemistry, well placed sound-tracks or having GHJ - MSun withdrawal. Just get some tissues ready, you will cry...

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Try it, it's fun if you turn your brain off!

This is another one of my favorite types of shows, the best/worst short dramas to watch! And I can't believe it looks like I'm the only person watching this in the world? Spoilers ahead (though it won't matter to the story at all, trust me).

The Pros
The cast is very good looking. The hair, costumes, and accessories, for the most part, are excellent. The sets and scenes are beautiful, and if you watch a lot of cdramas you will see some familiar places. The wirework that the ML and FL performed was excellent, you can tell they must have done a lot of practicing to make the flights look so effortless. The music was really fun in some places, like the series couldn't decide if it was a light romcom or an exciting costume drama and the music showed that. The ML and FL are both really good actors and they could almost pull off this trainwreck of a show, but not quite!

The Cons
What the heck is up with the editing. The scenes go like this: they are in the middle of town in the daytime, no they are in the forest at night, wait, they are now in a dungeon? wait no they are in a bamboo forest in the daytime, no night time, where the heck are they now? No transition just flittering back and forth between times and locations. You could make a fun drinking game out of this. Every time there is a sudden confusing switch take a shot!

I never did really figure out what the story was. They were all looking for a chart and then somehow said fck it all we'll forget about that aspect of the story and it wasn't mentioned again. And the ML and FL were married (contract/temporary?) but how/why we'll never know. The FL and ML were both in disguise, one was an assassin and the other a marquis? Maybe? The fight scenes were so bad they were like a high school production. Keep that FL away from a sword please!

The villain was over the top cheesy and not in a good way. Even his wig was bad!

All in all I had fun watching this one. Try it, you might like it too. I have found that I really enjoy these short series, where you never know what you are going to get. The episodes are only 10 minutes long, less then that if you don't count the pre and post credits.

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Solid story, riveting throughout

I got to know about this series as I was looking at some of the Light On Series installments. Burning Ice has a sequel in Light On Series: The Long Night though Burning Ice isn't one of the Light On Series installments.

It's not often that we get a crime thriller with a solid story, excellent storytelling and nuanced characterization while also being thought-provoking. The gradual moral degeneration of Guo Yu, a lawyer who unwittingly gets embroiled in criminal activities is one of the best elements in this series. He can be naive, he can be devoted in love, he can be cowardly, he can be callous. Dai Xu brings the character to life, making Guo Yu both a person we can empathize with and a villain we condemn.

The suspense regarding the layers of truth beneath the serial killer dubbed Snowman is also maintained very well. We get to learn about the identity of Snowman early on, but even as we know more, the mystery deepens. Everything comes together very well eventually, and there isn't an implausible twist or unconvincing criminal motivation to mar the story.

In comparison to the sequel (a different story except for the character Yan Liang, the policeman), perhaps Burning Ice has a less exciting story. But it more than makes up for it with very compelling and interesting characters (who suit the story). My opinion is that The Long Night has an even more compelling plot, but most of the characters are not developed with the sort of nuance that we see in Burning Ice.

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An anthology like no other

Many times, I tend to say that some series are not for everyone and you should like specific elements to enjoy them. However, I don’t think I have truly meant that, until now.

This is a series that is difficult to describe in words or to be more precise, you can describe it well enough, but you will never truly prepare the viewer of what they will experience, because Isu is an experience in itself.

It is an anthology consisting of eight episodes about the stories of different women and their precious chairs. It is a dialogue-based series that relies heavily on visual storytelling and it is, as it should, visually stunning. The acting is phenomenal and it has elements that personally reminded me of a theatrical play.

You can find a bit of everything in this peculiar series, that, frankly, only the Japanese could make. There are some surreal stories that use symbolism, some melancholic tales, some interesting and though provoking stories and some that are a bit underwhelming to watch.

Like the opening of every episode says, if you imagine a world with chairs, it will become a story.

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An underrated gem - you're missing out if you aren't watching this

Upon a friend's recommendation I decided to pick up this drama called "Kotaru Lives Alone" just because I was bored of most dramas lately. The synopsis seemed nice but I started watching it without much expectation. But I was blown away with how good this drama was! It made me reminisce about my early drama watching days when I watched only Jdramas and nothing else. This drama seems fit for a late 2000s or early 2010s Jdrama quality.

PLOT + CHARACTERS:
Honestly, it is ridiculous. It would never be legal, much less- posssible for a 5 year old to live alone and much less having a law firm or random people looking for a random kid. Were it a real scenario, they boy would be taken away by social services and they would have done as deemed fit by them. This drama reaffirms every episodes that it is a fictional set up which was sort of funny.

It's about a 5 year old who rents an apartment and how he navigates his life all alone. Of course, the neighbour steps in and from there on they go on from barely tolerating each other to forming a deep parent-child relationship. Also we have some lovely side characters thrown in and what I loved about this drama was how it was about kindness and helping others in need. The main adult character is a tsundere but his growth was pretty believable. I love how he never condescends the child and instead tells him how even an adult can learn lessons from a child. Honestly- their relationship had me very emotionally invested. We also meet a female hostess who is being abused by her boyfriend. I loved the fact that for the first time in a Jdrama, they called the police rather than trying to solve the problem on their own.

ACTING:
The main child star steals the show. His dialogue delivery was on point and he must be a smart kid because it was no easy feat! I also loved all the side actors and their interactions with each other were very natural. By the end they did seem more like a family than random people who came together. Kudos to the cast and the director who made sure that the viewer is able to feel this side of the story rather than us brushing it off as some comedy.

OVERALL:
I can understand that this drama isn't a conventional genre and Jdramas are even less mainstream among international viewers. However, it is a drama not to be missed out on as it has a fresh plot, comedy and some great characters. Like all Jdramas, it also teaches us the importance of kindness and giving others new chances. I honestly wouldn't mind a Season 2 because there is still a lot of story left to be told. Kotaru-chan's innocence lives on and I truly want him to get his real happy ending.

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I've seen my fair share amount of lakorn and I'm proud to say that this lakorn, Bhuppae Sunniwat is the best lakorn I've ever watched so far. If I can stand being hungry and sleep deprive, I would definitely finish this lakorn in 2 days instead of 5 days lol. It was so awesome. The moment I woke up till the moment I'm trying to sleep, I was so excited to continue this lakorn.

All the cast are perfect especially Bella and Pope. They both slayed me with their performance as Karakade/Kadesurang and Date. Kadesurang as Karakade is no doubt the best lakorn heroine in my opinion, I just love her so much. She doesn't necessarily meddle in someone else's business, she's strong and she's so smart. As for Date, I love him too, he's so devoted to Karakade and I swooned too much when I saw him smiled. And as for their romance, I squealed too many times that my family thought there's a rat in house lol

As for the story, my only complaint is that I wish they show us more of their married life. I would love to watch more of their interaction as husband and wife. It's really fun that as we watch this lakorn we also get to learnt more about the history of Thailand. If only my country would also do something like this lakorn, then maybe I won't be as clueless as I was about my country's history.

If you're looking for an amazing, sweet and funny lakorn/drama, then I definitely recommend this to you!

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While I'm not surprised by MDL's negative reaction to this show, I can't help but wish there was at least some love shown to this series here. But, considering this is essentially an indie film stretched into more than six hours of drama, I can't complain much, given the tastes of MDL users.

The extended shots and continuous takes evoke strong vibes reminiscent of Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, which might make some viewers find the material a bit monotonous. But if you're a fan of Edward Yang or Hou Hsiao-hsien's films, this is a treat. I would even go so far as to say this is the best thing I've seen from iQIYI and Chinese contemporary film/television in a long time.

The direction, production, and the actors' performances (there are some seriously impressive performances here) are genuinely excellent and ensure there's always something captivating happening within the frame.

The atmosphere and mood of the show stayed with me long after the credits rolled in the final episode. If nothing else, the final half-hour or so will linger in your memory long after the screen goes dark.

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