Reviews

A solid, worth-your-time watch if you really love horror and mystery

Although this was more of a mystery-thriller than a horror for me, nevertheless there was a time when I felt like there was someone watching me beyond a door at night while I was in the middle of watching this series. I loved the overall idea, the premise, the twist and the ending. I also liked that the police were involved as well, and there was a nice overlap of natural and supernatural. I could not stop clicking on the next episode, one after the other.
The only complain I have about the drama is the motive behind the actual spirit's hatred/resentment. That could have been more fleshed out. But overall, I really enjoyed this.

Leia Mais

Tokyo is all bark but no bite

More than a love story this whole tale is a commentary on Tokyo's state during different period of time, the Manga which is written during the bubble era, the 1991 drama before it pops, and the modern version when the economy is more stabilized. Each represents Wild Energy, Uncertainty and Resolve which would resonate in the character of Rika. The story described her as the living image of Tokyo, and in these 3 versions there is a dialogue where kanji says Rika is Tokyo itself. Having said that Tokyo Love Story is not remake but a reimagine, reimagining the same characters and story beats in modern times, similar with Final Fantasy 7, and just like how gameplay in modern Final Fantasy changes over time and so for Japanese dramas, the mundanity of the old was replaced by more fast paced approach, and elements such as female empowerment was added to fit the theme different from its predecessors. Tokyo as a city has this scary and intimidating vibe, and that never change. It's still the hub for lonely people. But "Tokyo is all bark but no bite" they say, so it's up to you whether you allow it to swallow you, tame it or run from it.

Just a heads up their journey as couples won't be that pretty at all, so if you want the same cute romantic stories then just watch until episode 3 and make that airport scene as your ending. After that the story will go into the more realistic territory, misunderstandings will develop, triangles will form, they will also go back and forth as a couple, and as a viewer it may feel personal to you especially if you relate to either of these couples. You'll witness the start of a toxic relationship, and you decide the source of that toxicity. You may take sides or no side; you may hate one or both of them.

The clash between their beliefs might be a fresh concept for a romance genre, but it's still the same misunderstanding between couples. It also feels a bit preachy, but that's fine since it's a mainstream drama, and by doing that they made Rika a bit comprehensible. The philosophical element of their relationship will fascinate you, its realism will immerse you, now the question is, would that be entertaining for you, because honestly the storytelling became weaker as the story goes, the second couple felt like a supporting characters, and it even dragged in the middle episodes. But for me before knowing it I already got invested in these characters that it made me curious what would be their fate, especially for Akana Rika.

Rika in this version is the anti thesis of everything we love about the romance genre, concepts like "destiny", "the one", "love never dies", those fairy tale words didn't exist in her vocabulary, then partnered it with her personality, moody, self assertive, independent, selfish but selfless then you get a complicated yet compelling character. She's flawed and many would misunderstand her, but that only makes her less of a manic pixie dream girl trope similar to the Manga.

Then there is Kanji the voice of us normies, sane people or whatever you want to call it. He is shouting all the time like a shonen character for hopeless romantics. Kanji is the traditional guy who just wants security and dependability different from Rika who is for mystery, exploration and freedom. Kanji is also obsessed with this thing called romantic possessiveness, he wanted to own Rika, but Rika doesn't feel the same way, she doesn't want to own Kanji, she just wanted to own the wants.

It's a bold move from the writer to incorporate the concept of "Modern Love" in this story and I like it, it enriches the psychological and philosophical aspect of this entire thing. I also love how they handled it, the drama could have criticize Romanticism so much and to be honest I had a feeling they are going in that direction, but the drama choose not to, it remained gray in the end and let the audience decide what to feel especially for its principal character Rika. Personally I get her, that mindset is common nowadays at least for me since I am surrounded with these kind of people and I notice there is one thing common to them, their work is somewhat related to art, just like Rika. I would say this topic is well researched or maybe the writer feels the same way. The problem is in Japan, people there would be too traditional, so I can't even imagine them being open to this type of relationship.

Production quality is not what you would expect in a typical Japanese drama it's WOWOW level or even Japanese dramas on Netflix. Cinematography is absolutely beautiful especially long shots, those shots that wonderfully captured Tokyo's vibrant and colorful lifestyle. Fashion is a thing is Tokyo Love Story, since they wanted to convey a particular period in time, from Rika's sophisticated office attire to Kanji's normie get up, I think they nailed that part. It also seems they wanted to play parallels with the 1991 drama, they not only altered Rika, but most shots are also during the night. Music is really good and I wonder how they found those English insert songs because it feels both are written for this story. Those songs didn't just provide modern vibe, but western vibe as well. I also love main theme "Touka", it's so catchy, so modern, sounds a bit like bump of chicken, and it brilliantly served its purpose as the cliffhanger song. The cinematography is beautiful and songs are exceptional but more importantly the casting for the main couple is spot on.

Japan has this stupid policy when casting actors in their dramas and god knows how many careers got derailed or even ruined just of that, but from time to time they do it right. Casting Ishibashi Shizuka for the role of Rika is the best thing they've done since Rena Nounen in Amachan. Their vision for Rika embodies Ishibashi so much, among the young Japanese actresses she's the one that exudes the strong modern woman type and her being an acclaimed indie actress means her acting style is more in a subtle category, the art of telling without telling, which fits perfectly for Rika, a woman who can't express herself properly. Ishibashi's contemplative look is so good that you would feel the psychological and emotional vulnerability in the character even her not saying a single word, so when she explodes in episode 10 you really feel it. She didn't just break the fourth wall; she drove a f-cking truck through it.

Kentaro is also a nice pick for the role of Kanji. I thought Ishibashi's captivating screen presence would eat him alive when I see his name in the cast but no he manage to stand his ground, he didn't disappear on the background. Kentaro's more japanese animated acting compliments Ishibashi's subtlety, un japanese acting style, it creates an interesting rapport between them. His goody-good image also fits this version of kanji which they describe as rice that goes well with anybody. Their chemistry might not be as good as those older classic Japanese dramas but to compare it with recent romance dramas with grounded characters then I think this is one of the best. I would give the acting a 10 if just for those 2 but since it's a collective effort I can't.

The problem is other couple, Anna Ishii is a great actress but she can only do so much with that boring character. I wish they put spice in her character and gave it a back-story just like what they did with Mikami. Her talent is wasted in this drama. Such a shame because I only watch this drama for her. Mikami in this version is more layered than the old Mikami. I kind of see why they put that disturbing scene in the drama but I don't agree with it, I don't think it's needed. If they want a stronger reason for Satomi to do what she has to do then why they didn't bother giving more backbone to her character. Sho Kiyohara is also the weakest actor among the four, I just wish he nailed that scene with Rika but the dude just can't cry, even the actress who played Nagasaki is better, now that girl can act. Mikami still fits him though. He's as charismatic as the old Mikami, like a model every time he's on screen.

It might seem I'm neutral, leaning towards trashing the show, but no because I really like this version. It has its flaws just like its characters, but for me I still consider it well made adaptation. Also, since I view it as a commentary my opinion on it just became better, not just this version but the 1991 drama as well. However if you want to know the difference between both, this one is less cheesy, more mature, less entertaining, but more realistic. For a story that is already 30 plus years old, it's given it would be a trope fest of a show, but for me there are 3 things they nailed right. It fascinates me, it immersed me, but more importantly, it makes sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HBZt3H8VXo
To understand Rika's mind watch this

Leia Mais

Don't drink the Kool-aid!

When Korean businessman Kang In Gu traveled to Suriname he never dreamed that he would end up between a rock and a hard place and the deep blue sea. Not only a fish out of water, but one desperately trying to stay out of the frying pan, Kang had to use all of his wiles to survive in a treacherous place dangled between a deadly Korean drug lord and a maniacal Chinese one.

Kang In Gu learned early to hustle between multiple jobs to earn a living. Now with his own family he's barely making ends meet when an old school friend shows up with a business opportunity. Skate fish are popular in Korea, but the sources for the fish were dwindling. Across the globe in Suriname they were throwing the smelly fish away. All the men needed to do was to buy the strange fish cheaply in Suriname and sell them for a huge profit back home. After a problem with a local police chief and city hall employee at his karaoke bar, Kang throws in with his friend Park Eun Soo and travels halfway across the world to seek his fortune.

Kang's business experience dealing with bribes helps him in Suriname until Chinese drug lord Chen Zhen (Taiwanese star Chang Chen) lets him know that he owns the water. After a chastising phone call from his religious wife, Kang dutifully goes to church where Pastor Jeon takes him under his wing. With a little help from the "saint", Kang's skates head to Korea. All is well until the ship has to stop in Aruba where a custom's search discovers cocaine in the fish. After a brief prison stint in St. Martin's, Kang ends up working for the Korean NIS to bring Jeon down. Turns out the good pastor was also the head of a cocaine cult and one of the largest drug distributors in Europe.

Narco Saints was not particularly original in the drug and crime genre but it was well done. Reducing the drama to 6 episodes helped keep the story tight as Kang and his NIS contact navigated the dangerous waters between Jeon and Chen. The story showed how Kang was able to read Jeon and play on his and Chen's suspicions and paranoia. Quick on his feet and always willing to negotiate, NIS agent Choi came to rely on Kang's instincts in dealing with the dangerous gangs.

Ha Jung Woo brought a subtle intelligence to his role as Kang. Hwang Jung Min delivered a pleasant menace to his evil pastor without going over the top. Chang Chen as the sadistic Chinese gangster particularly had to straddle the line between menace and madness and did so well.

Narco Saints was tense right up to the end, though it did devolve into some unrealistic fight scenes. It wouldn't be the first to do so. What Narco Saints did well was show the temptation for Kang to cross over to the bad side in order to make more money than he could have ever wished for and relatively easily. He wouldn't have to work himself to death like his parents but he was also pragmatic enough to realize that Jeon's days were numbered. His journey from only wanting to make money to only wanting to survive was an interesting one.

This drama covered much of the world and involved people representing several countries. It might not have broken new ground but it did itself proud in the drug crime genre. Worth trying out if you enjoy this sort of suspenseful and violent at times story.

Leia Mais

A Golden Classic DRAMA from the 90s


Story :
Basically it's a love story between so many people. She love him, he love her, she love another, that another loves another.
It seems cliche but trust me, you would somehow be wrapped into the whole drama and you would find yourself getting into their conflict like as if you're experiencing it yourself. I dont know how the drama made it that way, maybe it's the way how 90s dramas present themselves. But it just works so magically well and you just want to watch it more, to satisfy your curiosities.
Though, one thing i love in this drama, is that it doesnt go out of the way and just stay realistic as it can be.

Acting:
Can i just say how much i love everyone in the cast?

I dont know any of them at first but I just want to fangirl suzuki Honami . She has done a good job in portraying the cheerful friendly girl in the whole story . From the start, she has already got me to like her. And probably 100% of the time, I continued watching because of Akana Rika (her character), She is so relatable in so many ways. Plus, that million-dollar smile she does when she is actually hurt.

And this is my bias opinion, but I believed many japanese actress have the same character with the same persona, but Suzuki Honami has this uniqueness in a way that I dont think others can beat. I can't seem to find the right words.

I would go on more about praising her, but really, the whole cast of this drama definitely had their own charms and has contributed to the drama which make the whole thing a success.

Music:
The soundtrack is the best. Even though it is old school, it touches the deep of my heart like no other songs in this generation can make. Such an up beat melody but the emotion it brings , really makes you like as if you yourself are experiencing the issues in the drama. The song definitely deserves the 9th most best single that has sold in Japan. I could just repeat that song forever.

Over all:

I love it so much ! I never thought i'd be this obsessed with a drama,especially a drama that is older than I am. Such a classic gem that everyone should try and watch . Tokyo love story made me wish I was experiencing the life style during the 90s , and the way how people love during that time. Totally worth watching, even in the midst of our busy real lives. And for a classic-oldschool drama lover like me , this has definitely over-meet my expectations and how I wished there's more dramas like this nowadays.

Leia Mais

This has a great plot, it's not something you haven't seen before but the way the story was told was just great. Painfully beautiful. I first used the term with A Beautiful Life (series) and this will just be the second time.
No matter how many times you go back in time to try to change things if it isn't meant to be that it will never be. Seems you really can't change what is bound to happen. You just have to accept the fact that whatever is meant to be will find its way eventually. Enjoy the moment and make the most put of it, keep those memories and make sure you tell those you love how much you love them.
Full review here: elijahmaliksmom.wordpress.com

Leia Mais

Why watch Bad Genius the series?

At first, I was very skeptical to watch the series mainly because I thought there was no way the original Lin and Bank could ever be replaced. However, I couldn't be more thankful that I chose to watch the series nonetheless.
If you love the movie, you'll definitely love the series. The writer added more depth to the story because obviously the duration of the whole series is way longer the movie.

Worthy to mention, the unsaid yet undeniable connection between Lin and Bank was even more defined in the series. Following are the friendship between Lin and Grace; the relationship between Grace and Pat; the cheating arrangements; but I need to stop here so as not to reveal any spoiler. The characters, no matter how evil they'd become, you cannot hate them because the reasons are logical enough that probably you'd do the same if you were in the same situation.

Every episode is more intense. You could literally hear your heart getting out your chest. Although, changes have been made from the movie but it's mainly because to justify more the actions done by the characters. The cast and the crew have done their respective parts incredibly. Lastly, the opening song is so good, you'd be having a hard time to skip it. To reiterate,the series has more depth than the movie!

Overall, the series deserved attention just as the movie, and personally, even more.
Check it out guys.

Leia Mais

The paragraph of blurb on this one didn't engage with me at all, so even though it was a Chae Soo Bin story it kept getting bumped down my watch list.

Decided that it's been long enough and I wanted to watch another CSB drama so I fired it up. I wish i'd watched this one sooner, it was SO good. Watched the whole thing in a fairly short space of time (2 days i think) and was driven to keep going to continue to find out more about how the situations evolved and the characters developed.

There are lots of little stories going on in here, there's more than two couples - with two of them being at the forefront and another one or two sneaking in the sidelines. There's actual real development in the maturity and growth of at least two of the characters as they evolve from the way they are at the beginning to being better human beings. There's one moment that starts to smack of "oh god here comes the stupid breakup", but it's on something like Episode 15 so... you can kinda guess it's not going anywhere, but it does go further to re-enforce the strength of the characters involved and their resolve to help each other.

Chae Soo Bin is marvelous as always, a strong and independent character who takes charge of her own life and safety of it numerous times. It's always good to see when a story has both the male and female leads being strong, it's too easy to have one strong character (whichever gender) and one weak leaning on them. It's much harder to have two strong characters who lean or support as each situation requires - but it's so much better when it works that way I think, the best relationships have strong independent people in them.

Music - one track stood out, Must Have by Jang Jae-in, I need to listen to the rest of the OST but I love that track, it kept notably popping up and now i've listened to the whole thing on YouTube it's just a great song overall with a beautiful voice in some quieter moments without much backing track, and others with a much more full sound. Brilliant.

Hmm, another bit of the OST comes on in the background while writing this, The End of the Day by Na Yoon Kwon - that ones a cracker too.

The story overall is a bit of a david vs goliath. It's really interesting as they start out with the food alley in the situation it's in and then the evolution of idea after idea to improve and change things combined with the challenge and response coming from the "goliath" in the story. I really appreciated the business elements of this one and the creative (but quite reasonable) solutions they were putting forward, along with a reasonable reaction from the consumers to the idea.

There is a bit towards the start where she thinks that he's a transvestite which makes some some hilarious bits.

Definitely recommend a watch if you like romance, nothing really bad-heavy happens, characters emotionally developing - and if you're a fellow Chae Soo Bin fan, then it's really a no-brainer, stop reading this and get watching.

Leia Mais

Let me start by saying the synopsis here is absolutely not true! the synopsis is what made me set this drama aside for years, lead character being so evil to attain her ambitions? I guess the person who made the synopsis in this site never watched it. The main character is very beautiful, it can display innocence and it can show a scary look. She never killed or schemed someone because of her ambitions, she does not have ambitions to be an empress or empress dowager for her own interest. her evilness as the synopsis says is not even 1/5 of the other villains in the drama. All that prompted her to do what she did is a reaction to what the villains were doing to her, to protect herself, to avenge her lost love, to protect her children and herself, watch this, and even if you're fond of any drama genre, you will never put this down!


i've been watching so much asian dramas for the past 5 years or so to the point that I never have tot urn on the TV to watch anything else and I must tell you, this drama has been one of the most well made drama I have seen.

the plot is simple, very simple:

It's just some story of concubines and empress scheming, 76 episodes and the story only revolves within the harem. You have your emperor, empress and the concubines. Oh and it does have a love story

If you think of it, it does not deserve 76 episodes for such a simple plot. You might start wondering what they have done that it has to be 76 episodes, must be dragging, repetitive, boring.

let me tell you, I watched ten miles of peach blossom , SFD, Nirvana 1 & 2 , they're top notch when it comes to story line, plot and execution. since i watched these dramas, it has always been my standard if i should watch or drop a drama. I wqtched countless chinese historical, fanstasy cdrama, and many more kdramas, even thai dramas. I never had plan to watch Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan thou i've seen it many times when i search here what to watch next. I was watching Lgend of fuyao and i have to find somethign to kill the time while waiting for the next eps to be uploaded online. well guess what, I can stand not watching fuyaos eps till end of the week when all weekly eps were uploaded since i watched Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan.
must I say more?

let me compare it to top rated cdramas like TMOPB, ten miles has a very nice storyline + yang mi of course but it lacked luster when it comes to the most anticipated scenes like the fight scenes and the leads' supposedly moment of stardom. Fuyao has a great great storyline + yang mi, great costumes etc, name it, but let's admit it, it's toooooo draggy, too much reminiscing, crying scenes, in short, it has too much fillers it made the drama so bad that there are episodes that you ca skip entirely and still be on the loop. SFD, you can skip few mins. The only drama i can say that is at par with Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan is Nirvana 1, but Nirvana has it's advantage over Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan, its story revolves around so many people while Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan is only about the harem. while I was watching this drama, I thought about the talents of the writers and scriptwriters of this drama, the director, stage manager, idk but all that made it so beautifully executed I don't dare skip a scene,.. well i tried once but i ended up going back to what i skipped.


Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan is not your typical drama that follows every scene, it always conclude it. what i mean is, if a character asks her servent to get her a cup of tea, it no longer shows unnecessary scenes like servant bringing in the tea, if you know what i mean. this made the Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan one of its kind, fast paced but you'll not be left wondering unless you skip a scene. there's absolutely no boring moment and just like the other reviews and feedbacks, after you finish it, you will learn, you will learn how to be articulate with words, it grows in you while watching.

Nirvana has a very good rating here. I must say and Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan is very much at par it does not deserve 8.6 !!

Leia Mais

When I went to go see this film, I didn't know what to expect from it. I thought it might be a Burn The Stage type of documentary. It's not, but that's not a bad thing. This is 100% a concert film. You get to see BTS performing a bunch of songs from their Love Yourself series (and even a few others). The solos were one of my absolute favorite parts (especially seeing Yoongi dancing around to Seesaw in a sparkly red suit!) I personally really enjoyed this because I wasn't one of the lucky ones who were able to go to their concert, and while this wasn't the exact same, it's about as close as one can get. Overall it was really great and so much fun, I highly recommend it to all Armys. ^^

Leia Mais

Although they say this is a spin off from fated to love you it really isn't. Drunken to Love You is hilarious and there are funny moments almost all the time. Sometimes Taiwanese dramas seem to have a lot of melodrama in them, but this one didn't. However, there are some awful characters, occasional bad acting, and cliché moments but overall Fated to Love You is really likeable.

Now Rainie was awesome ! she seemed so very grown up and not like a kid anymore. Her crying scenes were really tear jearkers, and she really conveyed what the character meant. She is a really good actress. Joe Chang was really good as well but he did have a bit of an overacting bug, still you could really connect with him too. Tiffany Hsu was awful. Not only did it seem like the character was written poorly but her acting skills were the pits and she had no chemistry with Tom Price. (Plus she was annnnoying!!) The mother started out evil for like 1 episode but you will come to love her. You will see all kinds of reoccurring characters and if you watch it on Viki your friends will help pick those folks out!

Drunken to Love You has way less drama going on than Fated to Love you. However, with that said it seemed that Rainie cried just as much.lol. If you loved Fated to love you, if you keep in mind that this is a completely different drama you will like this too. I think both dramas had an innumerous amount of flashbacks and it seemed like there were new characters just coming out with no real purpose. Drunken had a lot of nice sub plots going on but none of them were as developed as the sub plots seemed to be in Fated.

This was a good watch it wasn't heavy with the drama, but it was funny and mainly cheery and had a really sweet ending. That you may not even see coming!

p.s loved the soundtrack.

Leia Mais

I want to vomit blood

Brace for the most annoying second male lead (2ML) and second female lead (2FL) characters. This drama practically has the most annoying supporting characters and yet they are very prominent in the story. The story started off pretty decent with an unconventional princess and a great male lead played by an actor I have come to love. To watch, viewers need to have a lot of patience. If not, you would want to strangle many characters here, maybe even including our FL and ML at times.

The acting by the two main character is actually not too bad - Ju Jingyi is her usual self with pretty the same kind of demeanor and unconventional costumes and head ornaments, and Zeng Shunxi (Joseph Zeng) is very lovable and convincing. But poor writing has made them look very bad at times, and resulted in their inconsistent acting and dialogues.

Both the 2FL and 2ML are super super annoying with a lot of screen time. The 2FL is obsessive with no dignity and the 2ML is also obsessive, super annoying and dumb. Though there are multiple lovable second couples, they are mostly one-dimensional and have rather poor acting skills.

My Verdict

Everything seems to have gone wrong with this drama, starting with a baffling English title, Rebirth For You (what the heck does it even mean?) The writing is so bad, lazy and inconsistent. The directing is haphazard and continuing angering me as the director doesn’t seem to care how viewers feel. The dialogues are boring and predictable. The war scenes are lazy and unconvincing with repeated scenes. For the supposedly final “big” battle for the finale, there are only a few people standing around. Plot holes everywhere with flaws that the editing team doesn't even bother to hide. The whole thing is like a non-serious, half-baked, kiddie costume drama that makes me roll my eyes until they hurt.

Watch it for Zeng Shunxi and Ju Jingyi if you’re their fans, just be prepared to protect your computer/TV screen so that you don’t accidentally smash it.

Leia Mais