Reviews

When I was the most depressed

I am a Jisoo fan from day one but wont stop me from saying that this one was nearly a disappointing drama for me. The story is something that would have been interesting a decade ago. When you got an amazing cast at your service, the makers should have been a bit more productive. This series stands between mature and cliché. The dialogues were good and were executed brilliantly. There is no wrong in a complete melodrama format but it becomes a headache if you can't bring realistic aspects to it. Character portrayal like Yeji's aunt and Carrie was cringe at times. The father of the brothers was one to applaud.

The saviours of the drama is indeed the cast. I liked Ha Seok vibrant acting. So bad that he is not used well. He could make any role. Im Soo Hyang is really the soul of this drama. There is something peculiar in her acting. Her way of dialogue delivery is a textbook to other actors.

Coming to Jisoo, been a fan of him since Angry Mom, and five years apart, he is still the sad boy. Dude just needs to change his agency.

Leia Mais

This drama was so good. I've read many reviews saying either the first half or the second half was better and the rest was kinda crap but I just can't agree. I tried to search the flaws in this drama so hard but I couldn't find any. I guess everyone has a different type, that's why I'll try to be as objective as possible now. I don't know if this will be your opinion, but give it a try!
When I first started this drama I was very torn whether to continue or drop this drama. Yes I'm speaking the truth even though my rating might make me look like a liar. Halfway through the first episode I asked myself if I shouldn't watch a drama of which I am sure that I will like it. In the end I watched two episodes of this drama and I don't regret it. In my opinion, that's when the drama started to climb the hill, slowly but surely. (I started to like it after 3rd/4th episode)
First of all, the story: Since you should've read the plot summary already I won't talk as much around the bush as I just did. It's a fantasy story which can be liked even if fantasy usually isn't your type. Because I speak from experience, I just can't stand fantasy because it makes a story so hard to feel realistic, but this oh this drama felt so real. The plot twists were what I liked the most. When you think the situation finally calmed down another event takes place and it's just entertaining to watch this story. Many people said something about fillers and I do agree, but to be honest those fillers were what made the story even better. Otherwise it would've been a short dramatic ride.
The cast did one amazing job! Because this is a fantasy show I had a hard time to get used to the characters but the cast's acting made it really easy! They acted so natural, as if it's the most normal thing to happen that you talk to a god and the next second to a demon or whatever. All, and when I am saying all I mean all roles were played well. Even the most unnecessary ones. And the characters lived through a development that every drama wishes to have. The people from the first/second episode had nothing in common with the ones in the last. I mean, they were both perfect but it was just fascinating how good and realistic the character development was made. And not to mention the chemistry between the main leads. I loved every relationship there was. But Son Oh Gong and Jin Seon Mi aka Sam Jang were really really well played. Both were extremely hard roles but pulled off by pros!
Next is the music. The OSTs are reason enough to watch this drama, I'm not kidding. Every single OST made my heart melt like I don't even know what. I can't find a better word as perfection to describe them. And they also fitted every situation very well. Not only OSTs but also random background melodies were so well produced and fitted perfectly.
All in all this drama was a ride of emotions, it could break your heart in one second but the very next you had to pause the episode because you can't stop laughing.

Maybe this review is so much better than others because I expected nothing from this drama. But maybe you just look into it and find out for yourself if it is wort it. But however you decision might look like, in my opinion it is a must-watch drama. Even though some people didn't like it I'm sure they still were glad that they watched it. But please don't judge the drama by not having seen everything! I was about to drop this drama after about 40 minutes and now look at my ratings.
I hope you will watch this and most important enjoy it at least as much as I did!
Whatever your choice is, have fun!

Leia Mais

I should probably begin with the disclaimer that I love everything to do with aviation, from airports to airplanes. Hence, it is not much a surprise that I enjoyed Tokyo Airport so much. The drama portrayed the everyday processes that have to be dealt with in getting passengers and aircraft safely off and onto ground relatively accurately. I definitely learned a lot about the aviation industry.

But more than just being technically pleasing, Tokyo Airport is truly carried by the viewer's connection with the characters and the human drama that unfolds. In just a few episodes, I became very attached to many of the characters, each of them with their own personality quirks and faults. In a way, because of the wide variety of characters and the way many of them play their own part in the drama, Tokyo Airport contains something for everyone (in an airport setting, of course). Romance, thriller, family, comedy, etc, this drama has it all.

Plot-wise, some of the scenarios are a bit of a stretch to a rational mind, but it's not the scenarios themselves that I really enjoyed. Instead, the characters' reactions to the scenarios and difficulties thrown at them are what really make this drama enjoyable. If you're willing to keep a suspension of disbelief, I think you'll find it (excuse the terrible metaphor here) a heartwarming flight that you'll be sad to leave in the final descent. At the very least, I certainly was.

Leia Mais

I really really loved this movie. It's so heartwarming!
Story: The summary is very confusing. I didn't get anything from it, but I thought I'd give it a try and it was really worth it. It's about a little boy who dies in an accident but returns to earth, not as a child but as an adult. He will live his whole life in just a short period (don't know if it was a year or 100 days or something like that). When he was a boy he fell in love with a single mother (he has something about single mothers, because his mother was a single one)and now as an adult he tries to be with her and both fall in love. But he has not much time left...

It's really a cute story, also very funny and you fall in love with the man who has a child's mind.

Acting: I loved the male lead, he played his role so well! You really thought it was for real.

I would definetely rewatch it. A really cute, funny but though so sad story! Hope you enjoy!

Leia Mais

Out of nowhere, a gem !

It's been quite some time since the Philippines gave the world of BL ground-breaking series like ”Gameboys” or ”Gaya sa pelikula”. There were actually some good series like ”Daddy Love”, ”Love at the End of the World,” and ”Papa, What is Love?”, although I wouldn't call these ”BL”, but rather ”gay” series. And now, all of a sudden, out of nowhere comes a BL gem entitled ”The Day I Loved You”.

What seems to be quite a conventional enemy-to-lovers and love-triangle high school BL series in the first episodes, suddenly turns into a heartbreaking drama, so viewers should be warned not to start watching this with false expectations.

The main characters are Nikko (Tommy Alejandrino), a nerdy boy, president of the school's book and bible clubs as well as the dance troupe, his best friend Justine (Rabin Angeles), who's had a crush on Nikko for a long time, and troublemaker Eli (Raynold Tan), who is being adored by all the girls and who bullies Nikko at first. When Eli is caught breaking into the school, the director punishes him by forcing him to join the dance troupe, with Nikko teaching him to dance.

Step by step, Eli gets closer to Nikko, with Justine enviously trying to obstruct their evolving relationship. Shortly before the school's prom, both Eli and Justine ask Nikko to be their partner at the prom, and at that very moment, Nikko breaks down whose health deteriorates rapidly. He suffers from ALS and knows that he won't have much time left to enjoy a ”normal” life, but he stays positive.

Nikko falls for Eli, the ”bad guy”, and under his influence Eli drops his bad behaviour, and finally even reconciles with his mum who lives abroad and had sent him back to the Philippines because of his permanent shenanigans. Eli tries his best to make Nikko happy by fulfilling some of the wishes on his bucket list. Justine finally accepts that he won't be Nikko's lover, and he gives up in a heartbreaking scene. He proves that he is Nikko's best friend when he teams up with Eli trying to support Nikko.

Things become even more dramatic when shortly before the prom Nikko can't move his legs any more. He is desperate and about to give up, and it is Eli who persuades him to return to his joyful, positive self. I don't want to spoil too much about the final episode here, but what I can say is that it's an emotional rollercoaster like the entire second half of the series, and although the ending is more bittersweet than happy, there is even a slight chance that there may be a season 2.

The story is well written (by Easy Ferrer), with a good blend of comedic, joyful, sad, tragic, and emotional scenes. Some viewers were obviously not prepared for the serious story in the second half of the series as they expected a lighthearted rom com, but life isn't a bed of roses for everybody, so this series is more true-to-life than most high school BL series which only revolve around the love affairs of guys trying to find out whether they're straight, gay, or whatever. Integrating a character with a disease as serious as ALS into a BL series is courageous and requires sensitive writing, but it works in this show.

Apart from the unique plot, it is the actors who make this series worth watching. Tommy Alejandrino, who was awarded ”best actor” for his main role in the 2022 movie ”The Baseball Player”, is a very good actor who brilliantly manages to bear the main burden of this show. Raynold Tan has been reduced to his good looks by some viewers, and he may have some room for improvement as an actor, but he does a good job as does Rabin Angeles, who is a newbie like Raynold. I would love to see these three in a season 2 or in a completely new series together again. Most of the side characters are good in their respective roles, too. As a dedicated fan of Kaleb Ong, I would have wished to see more of him in this series, but you can't always get what you want...

The directing (Easy Ferrer) is good and the production is technically better than many Filipino series, which doesn't come as a surprise as it was made by Regal Entertainment who have given us (among many other, non-BL productions) the Ben X Jim and B X J Forever series which were harshly criticised by some viewers, but I'm probably one of the few who actually liked those series very much for their colourful stories, very good acting, and the inclusion of all the colours of the rainbow, and clear political statements about the pending SOGIE bill.

All in all, ”The Day I Loved You” is a beautiful BL series with a unique plot and good actors who I am sure we'll see more often in the future. Viewers should be warned, however, that the series' second half is dramatic, if not sad, so if you expect nothing but shallow entertainment, this isn't a series for you. But if you're keen to watch good entertainment with a serious message, you'll love it.

You will find all my reviews of BL series and movies, including those on productions from countries not covered by mydramalist, like Myanmar, Singapore, or Vietnam, here:
https://www.wattpad.com/user/DominicKebre

Country: Philippines (2023)

Episodes: 10 à 20 mins.

Director: Easy Ferrer

Cast: Tommy Alejandrino, Raynold Tan, Rabin Angeles, Kaleb Ong et al.

Leia Mais

Real Passionate Kissing Scenes

OMG! This is the only Chinese drama I’ve ever watched with so many passionate kisses. Other Chinese dramas normally have superficial kisses like a peck on the lip or cheek. But this drama goes all the way out to capture real, passionate and sensual kisses. The male and female leads don’t seem to have enough of those kisses and with each other!

This is a light-hearted drama. It’s funny, and the plot is straight forward with not many twists. I like the chemistry between the lovers, as mentioned earlier, they don’t seem to have enough of each other. I also like the relationship between the Prince and his buddies. Their silliness is the most hilarious things to watch and I really love watching them teaching each other the art of “conquering” women.

Overall the acting is good, especially for the new comer Ling Mei Shi who plays the Li Ming Yue character. She is cute, beautiful and works very hard in bringing us a very convincing princess. Alen Fang is very good looking with a cold and arrogant look, fitting the role of Li Qian very well. As Li Qian, despite his intelligence, he is repeatedly fooled by his own wife, the princess, over and over again. Together with his buddies, Si Kong Zhen and LiXun, they seem to have some kind of bromance with each other and the overall effect is funny, sweet and heart-warming.

Overall, things fall into places well and no loose ends, and the pace is just good.

If you want something light and good for a laugh, this is a good drama to follow.

Leia Mais

A fairy tale about a marriage of convenience.

A captivating, fun, and romantic story with a fairytale vibe. Rose and Din have great chemistry; I found myself yelling for them to kiss several times. However, for me, the highlight of the series was the cousins, especially Lom. Believe me, I'm not saying this because this character is played by Freen Becky; I'm not a number one Freen Becky fan, but I must admit she's my favorite character. Lom is giving a charismatic performance. There's humor, fun, and suspense too. I liked the villain of the series and the serious issues it addresses. I hated him and was afraid of what he might do to the protagonists... In other words, I loved him! That's how a villain should be.

Leia Mais

I love musicals, and music based dramas, thus my main reason for watching. If you want to hear great music, THIS is the drama of 2013 for it! The greatest thing about Monstar is the OST (though I hope they give us more songs for purchase).

Summary: The acting was good, and surprisingly so with many "newbies" to drama acting. It was nice to see scenes of musicians playing instruments and actually know how to play them... very refreshing. The music, as mentioned before, is top notch. There is a piano duet of J. Pachelbel's Canon that is amazing, as well as a haunting version of Nocturne with just guitar and cello that sticks with you. The story is the weakest link of the drama, which is likely why it was only 12 episodes. It wasn't a bad story, but light and lacking true depth as a drama. This could be best labeled as a light romantic musical drama, but does have entertainment value.

Details: There isn't much to put in the details without spoilers, but I can say that you will likely purchase the OST if you love music. Watching "new" actors was also nice, it gives me a few more people to put on my list of "ones to watch". I have to give a special mention to GLAM's DaHee because her role was awesome and she played it well. I fell in love with her character the most and she just tended to steal scenes when she was in them.

Rewatch value is listed as high as it is because the music will make me watch this again since the OST doesn't include all of it. Should they make all the music spots available for purchase, it would go down I think.

Leia Mais

Okay, so let me break this down for you.
I just completed this drama half an hour back and I'm already missing it. Believe me when I say that one of the things I avoid doing the most is touching any currently airing drama. Suspense and waiting for the next week is like taking multiple gun shots! Initially, I did that with Pinocchio, until the 7th or 8th episode. When suddenly saw netizens storming on about Pinocchio, I couldn't run away from the temptation! And ended up making stupid promises to myself such as ' I'll just watch the first episode, see how it is, and give it a full run from the 2nd episode onwards until it ends'.
But boy oh boy, I watched all the 7/8 episodes aired by then, in one day and took a stab for realizing that now I had to start waiting for another damn week. Hard times! (if you're a drama addict, you know what I mean :P)

I'll go by the rating table. Story? Here let me ask you this, what do you think would come out of the drama written by the same team of writers who gave us "I Hear Your Voice", teaming up again with Lee Jong Suk? Yes, a great story with all the elements one expects after watching the trailer. Actors? Honestly, I had few concerns about Park Shin Hye but I'm glad she lived up well to her character of Choi In Ha, a character outline I liked when I read about it on various websites. Lee Jong Suk was awesome as always. I liked Lee Yoo Bin since "Innocent Man" and liked her even more in this drama especially, her character's story with Hwang Gyo Dong (Lee Pil Mo). It was very cute and I think it was a good idea to add such light comedy to the drama. I liked everyone's acting from both MSC and YGN news company. Kim Young Kwang moved me in the last few episodes, trust me. Special mention to Kim Hae Sook as Park Ro Sa (Seo Bum Jo's mom) who portrayed the character of a villain pretty well.

Soundtrack? Instead of doing an online search on the OST list, I waited for all the tracks to play in the drama which made me like them even more. "Non-fiction" by Echo is my favorite track. (:
What more should I do to actually/ literally tell you that this drama is worth watching for its story, cast and music because I rated it a 10, both for Rewatch Value (I don't rewatch much) and this drama as an Overall?
If you're into stories such as this one, it'll be worth it. Enjoy! :)

Leia Mais

A good adaptation

Considering there are so many topics the drama cannot depict (ie. BL, gore, senseless violence, ghostly retribution), this is a pretty good adaptation of the novel. The story flow makes sense. There is no moment where I thought, "Oh, they should've just skipped that part instead of twisting it into something it's not." But at the same time, the changes make the stories less frightening and more generically appealing.

The actor who played Lin Jiushi is their weakest point. He cannot do emotional scenes, except the one where with he was disappointed by his estranged mother. His outbursts, either grief, anger, or horror, felt as if they came out of nowhere and rather superficial. Other actors, while still mediocre, are more relatable than him. My fav character is Zhuang Rujiao. She is like the seasoning that makes them taste better. 'Cuz once she showed up, all the main characters seemed somewhat more engaging.

In theory, the drama can go on forever. And I wouldn't mind watching another 100+ more episodes of their adventures through the doors.

Leia Mais

An enjoyable watch despite many irritating factors

I have a love/hate relationship with this drama but decided to review it for a few reasons.

1. The actors did a fantastic job in portraying their roles.
2. The production was high quality with noticeable wardrobes quality and set design.
3. Most of the main characters weren't two-dimensional but more realistic and relatable despite significant limitations.

This drama's storyline is quite a departure from the original online novel that it was adapted from, so much so that some parts were unrecognizable. Some were good changes; others were questionable. I always wondered why scriptwriters chose to change so much of the original story that the value of the original work is lost? I would hesitate to re-write Louis Cha's novels because people love his wuxia story so much. That's how he became famous as a story writer. A scriptwriter is in no way a novel writer. Scripts are meant to bridge and adapt the storytelling effects between conventional novels/storytelling to movie production without losing the original, entertaining value of the story. Unfortunately, this is lost in this drama. I felt the scriptwriters lost their place and thought of themselves as authors of the story itself. Despite this significant drawback, the acting is still entertaining. The actors portray the characters in the drama well despite its limitations of character development and major story plot holes. The actors did a good job bringing it to life with realistic portrayals as best as they could.

I enjoyed the story despite some noticeable flaws in character development that felt illogical and rushed. I enjoyed the OST (but wasn't too happy that it was censored and copyright claimed all over youtube that most of it are not released). I'm impressed with Tong MengShi's acting and portrayal of the ML. I saw him before in Joy of Life and noticed him, but he had a minimal role in that drama. His role in this drama gave him more grounds to expand his acting chops. He brought the main character to life, expressing emotions in a restrained and controlled manner. The character itself wasn't complex, but his portrayal made it complex and interesting to watch. I couldn't say the same for the FL. In the first ten episodes, I found her portrayal annoying, and I was ready to drop the drama. Still, I persisted, and she eventually developed to become a more realistic and relatable character. I attributed this major dramatic annoyance to one part by the overacting of the actress and the other the significant departure of the script from the original novel. The character in the story was more deliberate, calm and careful than it was portrayed in the script adaptation.

Despite the significant flaws in the main characters, I found the supporting cast/characters immensely talented and rich with depth, which rescued many of the script's shortcomings. It made me root for the scenarios around the characters and invest in the drama. Overall, I still enjoyed the drama, and it was worth watching, but don't have high expectations of it in character development and storytelling values. If you're not that picky in this regard, you'll enjoy the drama.

Leia Mais

Just from my first impression i expected a crazy, loud and chaotic movie. But i watched it anyways because of the two main actors and, what to say, made the right choice. I was hocked from the start. The topic may seem a bite unusal, but that`s exactly what i liked about it.
Both actors were showing great acting skills and you could actually feel the chemistry between them. I like it when you can´t quite grasp a character in the beginning and the actor is able to change this feeling during the movie and you can feel how you get closer to the character. Both actors defenitely accomplised this task.
The sript was well writen, the right words at the right time, not too much drama or never ending dialogs. Same goes for the music. Quiet, smooth, necessary but without getting on your nerves.
In the end the movie tourned out to be realistic, sad, life-affirming and quiet, but still chaotic and a tiny bit crazy. The right amount of everything, well composed and put together. And even the ending matched.

Leia Mais

This drama is a twist to the typical police/mystery drama. The town of focus, Atami, has kooky residents, cults, a creepy boarding school and evil politicians.
The plot was fantastic and left me intrigued after every episode.

The overall vibe of the drama is strange with tons of dry humor (totally Odagiri's style).
Odagiri and Kuriyama portray an attractive detective duo, who have solid chemistry and plenty of bickering between themselves.

The ending left me wanting a second season.
Also, upon visiting several forum discussions, it seems that there is a lot of cultural symbols and subtle messages in this drama that hint at certain things. A re-watch of this drama after some research/pondering is definitely suggested.

Overall, this is a twist to the typical police/mystery drama with tons of crazy characters and dry humor.

Leia Mais