Reviews

How to Wreck a Popular Franchise—Trigger Warning Edition

Trashing Consent in Sexual Relations and a Respected Franchise—all in one toxic package!

VERDICT

HIStory 4: Close to You has no redeeming qualities. I’d like to believe its lazy storyline, fetishization of gay relationships, and disregard for the virtue of seeking consent before pursuing sex will remain unsurpassed as a nadir for the genre. Given the warmth a substantial section of BL fandom has bestowed upon this toxic swill, however, I fear that filmmakers in the future may continue to believe that audiences will overlook the absence of consent as long as they cast handsome men in lead roles and contrive plot lines that lead those men to bat eyelashes at one another, smile warmly, and then kiss. It’s true, I think, that BL audiences like those things. Like them a lot. But it’s absolutely possible to create those moments without resorting to sexual assaults as technique for courtship. A writer need only put some effort into depicting wooing and warmth. Way more satisfying to observe than the rape of an unconscious victim. Any potential viewer who wishes to avoid the promotion of rape culture, ought to pass this series by without bothering to sample it.

And that criticism doesn’t even approach the other potentially toxic issue here, an incestuous affair between stepbrothers. Close to You is not the first BL series with a rape storyline. It’s not the first BL series with a sexual harassment storyline. It’s not the first BL series with a stepbrother incest storyline. But no other example comes to mind where a series is so unapologetic about all of those things. It’s as if the makers said, “Let’s bundle every trope, every plot device that has provoked backlash in the past and stuff them into this story as the main plot. Then, let’s see how far we can push those boundaries before people protest.” Sadly, many people think the fact the raped character accepts his stepbrother’s affections proves that such things are possible. Um, no. It proves that the writers can write any outcome they like, no matter how implausible, and people will think it’s charming. You know, as long as handsome men kiss.

Previous iterations of the HIStory franchise earned a great deal of goodwill in BL fandom. And not just the straight female segment of BL fandom. The earlier incarnations also appealed to gay male audiences who could see aspects of their lives in those stories. As a genre, BL sometimes gets accused of fetishizing gay lives for the entertainment of straight women. For me, the HIStory series largely avoided those pitfalls, as it told thoughtful and provocative stories. The thoughtfulness of those stories is certainly a reason I stuck around for this series long after it raised my hackles. I had faith the makers would somehow redeem themselves. In this instance, that faith went unrewarded. Close to You has sullied the venerable franchise so severely I’m not sure it can recover.

Leia Mais

let me get one thing straight about all of your concerns

i saw some one comment and was impressed as they said it correctly bcoz so many out there having concerns with sehun age


there's some actors out there portrayed as highschoolers.
Lee Minho (26) in "The Heirs"
Kim Tae Ri (31) in "Twenty-Five, Twenty-One
Hwang In Youp (30) in "True Beauty
Choi Woo Shik (31) in "Our Beloved
Summer"
Oh Sehun in Dokgo Rewind which was also a teen series
I bet, you've watched some of these written above.


okay so i know the people commenting here doesn’t want us to know that they don’t like a certain actor so pointing out a silly thing as age factor was so useless

he is already way mire famous in the outside media and the director knew this too
nope the director didn’t think oh he was almost 30 no he didn’t bcoz it doesn’t matter

Leia Mais

Passionate romance that heteros don't get

Most heterosexual plots simply don't get an exclusive passionate romantic plots like this one. They usually have a bunch of other things going on and a bit of romance thrown in. Not here. The focus is on the ML and his journey to discovering love and himself. And it does make me a tad envious because they really don't beat around the bush in Love in the Big City. They explore friendships which are mostly wholesome and endearing.

The show is not all roses and sunshine though. There are some dark topics explored. However, most of the show tries to be positive because the male lead is a cheerful individual making the best of difficult circumstances. Maybe even a little toxic positivity that can be frustrating or concerning for others around him at times.

The beginning few episodes were funny and enjoyable but somewhere towards the end, the show started to feel slow and dull. Not sure if that was intentional. Overall the characters and situations are mostly realistic.

I wasn't too happy about the way the series ended especially since the last 2 or 3 episodes weren't as interesting.

The opening theme is nice but the OST in particular did not stand out to me.

For the most part it is an easy binge watch with good cinematography, interesting characters, good acting and a job well done by Nam Yoon Su.

Leia Mais

Strong Start, Disappointing Finish: What Happened in the Last 4 Episodes?

This is another series I was really looking forward to. The casting looked promising, the plot seemed interesting, and I had high expectations for the script and storyline. Unfortunately, the ending was very predictable and felt extremely rushed.

The series started off really well and was highly engaging. Hui Ju and Yi An were clever and full of schemes in the beginning, but in the later episodes, they became noticeably less intelligent and made poor decisions. Prime minister Min and I Rang were characters with a lot of potential, but they were severely underused. I felt that Prime minister Min was unnecessarily forced into the villain role. I Rang’s redemption arc was almost nonexistent — she barely had any screen time in the latter half. The female lead’s family was set up as having a bad relationship, but suddenly her brother and father started loving and praising her out of nowhere. The last 4 episodes were hugely disappointing. The show introduced so many new plot threads but then completely abandoned them, leaving tons of loose ends. It felt very rushed toward the finale.

I really like iu’s acting in melodramas, but in this romcom, her performance felt a bit off — although she looked stunning throughout the series. Byeon Woo-seok’s acting felt quite stiff. The chemistry between him and IU was just average, but I actually thought his chemistry with Gong Seung-yeon was better. The costumes were beautiful, and the locations were well-chosen and visually pleasing.

Overall, Perfect Crown is a series that started strong but gradually became boring and lost its momentum. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

Leia Mais

Let me preface this by saying that I had just watched Playful Kiss before this, so watching ANOTHER ditzy main female character immediately after already grated on my nerves. Then the first episode had such weirdly fast-forwarded cinematography that I got motion sickness. Yet, I decided to power through.

I have no words to describe how problematic this was, from the relationship itself, to the way gender and racial stereotypes were portrayed.

Let me start with the quickest: there was a scene where the characters are in the UK, having fun with a lot of white people. Suddenly, they run into some gangsters, who just happen to be the only black people in the show so far. The racism couldn't be more obvious.

Second of all, the way that traditional roles are reinforced in this are subtle, but alarming. There's so much talk about how a woman is still worth marrying if she's infertile, and to me this topic was never addressed sufficiently. There's also a lot of romanticizing of "woman sacrifices career to be a wife." I'm overall really unhappy about the way women are portrayed in this drama—they're either gold-diggers, gossipers, dependent and overthinking, obsessed with a boy, or obsessed with fulfilling the perfect child-bearing wife role. There was honestly not one strong woman role I was happy with.

I hated the main male character. Aside from my superficially saying that he visually does nothing for me, I just thought his personality was one of the most boring and bland I've ever watched. Firstly, he has some creepy and stalkerish tendencies, and I'm sure a lot of things he did as a boss to his employee could be seen as an abuse of power. As the show went on, he honestly got worse (as a boyfriend)—he never seemed to try and see things from Shan Shan's perspective, and he became increasingly controlling. He kept trying to use his money to get her things without her knowing—as if he didn't trust her to make her own life decisions. He kept so many secrets and justified them saying it was for her own good. And worst of all, he completely disregarded her career and kept saying things like "that's my decision" and "it's not up for discussion" when it was supposed to be HER DECISION in the first place,

Add to that the fact that C-Dramas do this weird thing where they make the main characters initiate skinship and pair it with slow-mo and romantic music BEFORE I even had any reason to ship them, and all I got was a boss doing weird physical things to his employee when the extent of their relationship was him watching her eat through his office window.

I honestly wasn't a huge fan of Shan Shan either. This has something to do with the way the drama was filmed, but half of the entire show is her whining in internal monologues. So much of this show is advanced by Shan Shan "accidentally overhearing something," then overthinking it in a lengthy internal monologue while she pouts externally. As cute as she is at some points, I got SO tired of hearing her voice. MOST of the sub-plots are brought about because she needs validation from Feng Teng about their relationship, or that she needs to do something to "be good enough for him." And nobody ever tried to convince her otherwise, or argue that she was good enough. As the show went on, she also started standing up for herself less and less, and I almost ripped my hair out hoping that she'd say something about making her own life decisions, but she never did.

Overall, this was a tiring and dragging plot, filled with lots and lots of problems. The only character I never got TOO annoyed with might be Zheng Qi, who seems thirty times more fun to be around than the boring male lead.

Leia Mais

A must watch!!

Words are not enough to express how much I love this drama. It is one of my favorites. The story is beautifully sad and I cry like a baby every single time. The bromance between Lee Dong Wook and Gong Yoo is everything!!! They always make me laugh! Lee Dong Wook as the grim reaper was a perfect casting choice! (every time he is casted, it's a perfect choice). This gorgeous man can be awkward, funny, crazy, sad, angry, etc. And I love how he looks so young when he is clean shaven but so mature with facial hair. He is just so beautiful, and HOT 🥵❤️‍🔥🥰♥️. His portrayal of older Wang Yeo was superb; as usual, he gives it his all. And of course Gong Yoo was amazing as the goblin, too. He is an amazing actor and I love his friendship with Dong Wook so much! They have amazing chemistry!

Leia Mais

This was disappointing, but a last-ditch effort at the end sort of saved it.

There was a sadness throughout the whole series (just 6 short episodes), with Tee and Fuse reuniting for their third anniversary together... except, from as much as we could tell, Tee and Fuse are attending different universities so they haven't seen each other that much in these three years.

Peak (Fuse) carried the series with very good acting, showing lots of emotion and crying real tears in just about every episode. Boom (Tee) was subdued pretty much all the time. At one point, we hear him speaking to his mother on the phone and, from what we can gather, Tee's mother is against his relationship with Fuse, with Fuse overhearing Tee's side of the conversation. Unfortunately, we get nothing from Tee regarding his own feelings... there's just an unspoken resolve that Fuse will break up with Tee, so that they can both get on with their lives.

In the last episode, Fuse tearfully says goodbye to Tee, but Tee stops Fuse from leaving. Tee calls his mom and says that he will stay together with Fuse and that's that. The series ends with video messages from many of the former Make It Right cast members congratulating Fuse and Tee.

The story was not well written. Sure, we can all understand the issues that young gay men often go through with their families, but it wasn't addressed at all.

Lukmo and Ess showed up to provide some levity (I'm not even sure why Ess was there), but their presence fell flat... the scenes with them felt awkward and forced. The very few attempts at comedy (Fuse/Tee shaving in the bathroom; a couple of fun moments with their friends) weren't enough to save the overall depressing feeling of the series. The video messages with the former MIR cast members did help to provide a somewhat satisfactory ending.

There is nothing wrong with presenting a drama here but, if that's what they the producers were going for, it just wasn't good enough. Too bad, because Fuse/Tee are a decent enough couple. Both actors deserved better, especially Peak (Fuse).

Leia Mais

Overall, it's not an astounding drama, however, it's one of the best online dramas i can find these days. Love the drama, many thanks to the director, actors and actresses as well as the whole production crew, who work with devotion and expertise.
Alert: don't expect too much on the first half, this serial gets better as it progresses.
First half:
Plot:7,5
Actors: 9
Production: 8,5 ( great cinematography )

Second half
Plot: 8,75 ( getting better as the drama progresses)
Actors: 9 ( both on talent and appearance)
Production: 9( great angle, some tasteful cinematographically scenes that worth gif-making, good after effect, lovely and aesthetic background)

A special detail i want to add is that the loveline between XM and LF. It's not developed much but enough. It's cute and it adds different feelings along with the excitement of the film pace.

Some people complain about the OE , yet i love it, i don't want it to end so soon:(((.

Leia Mais

I actually enjoyed this more than the drama!

I LOVED the drama and gave it an overall rating of 9/10, but this movie is a straight-up 10/10. Something in this movie just felt RIGHT! I very much enjoyed the removal of the inner dialogue, letting me feel my own feelings rather than hearing the characters' thoughts. The scenes just seemed so much more beautiful! The music was also changed and gave it such a more (for lack of a better word) "mature" feel.

This movie made me BUY a Viki Standard Pass so I could watch it (I have no regrets, now I can also watch so many more dramas). Please enjoy this movie, as it is the director's cut! They didn't just make a movie to make a movie.

If you're thinking of watching, please do! This show was wonderful in so many ways. Both Han Gi Chan and Jang Eui Soo did a fantastic job acting. Especially for Gi Chan, I can imagine it must've been hard to debut as an actor in a BL drama, not long after trying to debut as an idol. He was so good at expressing his emotions, I really couldn't tell that it was his first time acting. Every actor did a fantastic job portraying their characters! Without spoiling too much, the story is very sweet and had my emotions on a roller coaster, even though it was so short. The development between Tae Joo and Gook was amazing, and I am a sucker for romances like these.

Leia Mais

came for Cherry Magic actors, stayed for everything else

I'm truly loving this series so much!

As in the title, I had originally started watching this for Eiji and Keita. However, I ended up staying for the many other great qualities of this series. Not only have the characters, acting, and plot continued to surprise me non-stop, but the romantic interests are also lovable.

The biggest aspect of this show that keeps me hooked is the main character Mamoru. As a woman CEO, she is a very refreshing representation of what all CEOs should strive to be: a hardworking, strong, and honest boss who sincerely cares about their employees.

Overall, I would recommend this drama to anyone who loves a funny, romantic, and surprising workplace series to enjoy!

Leia Mais

I started watching this drama because I was intrigued by the idea of body swap, and it turned out to be a nice funny story.  
That was until the last couple of episodes happened. It felt like the writer of this show just had a sudden idea at the end of making this story and they wanted to insert it no matter what, or just had the idea all along and couldn't mix it well with the rest of the plot. Either way, it is didn't work out and they were a lot of plot holes and unanswered questions. Also, the relationship between the princess and the other man bothered me.
But I'm going to look over all that since I'd enjoyed almost everything about this drama and don't want to ruin the experience. Besides, episode 20 went back to original funny vibes of the show and it was really entertaining. I'd love to see more about Ji Man and Da Xi.

Recommended if you want to watch a (mostly) lighthearted drama with a lot of funny moments.

Leia Mais

This is a movie that doesn't require a particular attention to details. If you like romantic comedies and are in this for a good laugh, then this will be entertaining enough for you. It's definitely not boring and a few chuckles here and there are assured. However, if you expect some more detail and inthrough in the life of a profiler/detective or burglar, then you won't get it. It just scratches the surface of both the justice and criminal world, but that was clearly not the point. The story is simple and enjoyable enough to watch, clearly cheesy but not to the point of cringing. The main couple is the focus from the beginning to the end of the movie and clearly wanted to put Ho Tae in a very ironical position, if listening to what type of policy he follows at the beginning of the movie. The humorous factor is exactly seeing the justice seeker getting comically corrupted by a foxy girl that he can't help but have a crush on. Overall, I recommend it to those that just want something simple that doesn't require lots of thinking but just get what is given to them.

Leia Mais

I really loved this drama. Recently I've been branching out of the BL Thai dramas into the 'straight' dramas and I think Thai dramas have a lot of potential, I can see that they work hard on them and I love them a lot more than K-dramas shockingly! Before I was more a fan of J-dramas but Thai dramas took the cake and this one was a main factor. I'm glad that I watched this, I mainly watched for Captain, Chonlathorn, but I loved the leading actress, actually, I loved everyone. I couldn't stop watching it, I actually forgot about my other dramas because of this. It was hard to find translated episodes, which made me take longer to finish but the 90s Thai music was a plus, I love Thai music and this really made me love it more. The suspense was great because every episode had you guessing and the ending didn't disappoint, well it did a little mainly because of my personal preference, in the guys. I loved the emotions and I actually felt like I was a member of room 305. I don't watch dramas more than once but if I recommend it to a friend and she/he was watching it, I'd watch it with them, yes it was just that great! I always love Thai drama's opening and ending songs like they always know what to choose and it's just so fitting! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS FOR ROMANTIC FANATICS! Even if you aren't this is filled with a lot of friendship and bonding plus it's comedic.

Leia Mais

Just watch Young Blood 2 instead.

Imperial Coroner 2 is a sequel that should not have been made. It is missing the charm and narrative focus of Season 1, which was a cool, largely plot-driven "how-did-it" kind of ancient crime-solving story. Season 2 attempts to better flesh out the beloved investigative team but fails to do so in a way that resonates. This character-driven digression comes at the cost of the cases, which lack tension and suspense and skimp on Season 1's stylish, visually impactful illustrations of forensic clues. The sloppy and juvenile writing is a rude shock after Season 1's narrative consistency and meticulous attention to detail.

This season picks up three years later, with Chu Chu now married to Xiao Jinyu—an unconventional commandery princess in name and a hardworking imperial coroner in fact. While I appreciate the attempt to flesh out and age the titular character, it is not done well. Chu Chu's mature styling is nice, but her lips turn down in a discontented expression that suggests she did not find marital bliss. She whines bafflingly about her unfulfilled aspirations to be a coroner—when that is actually what she does, with the full understanding and support of her husband. Her petty grievances ("oh poor me, I have to be a commandery princess when all I want to do is prod corpses and bask in the odor of rotting flesh all day") and pity party are not just boring; they are tone-deaf and at odds with the genuine suffering of the truly powerless women of low societal status featured in the early female-themed cases.

After three years of marriage, the romance is still stuck in the tiresome courtship and repeated misunderstanding phase. Just divorce already, please! As for Jing Yi and Leng Yue, if their henpecked husband/abusive wife routine is supposed to be funny, the misguided attempt at humor comes off as banal, and borderline offensive. While the full cast from Season 1 reunites, their dynamic and rapport are just not the same.

As for the cases, there is one overarching plot that ties together all the subplots. Of these, the only case that really stuck with me was the young monk's story. That child actor, Shi Hengyi, moved me to tears. The main Nanzhou arc is the biggest disappointment—it is much more spy vs spy than ancient CSI. There is no real mystery, as the identity of the allegedly hidden master spy is not hidden. And anyone who watched Young Blood 2 would immediately recognize this as a dumbed-down knockoff of that drama's main plot—down to the styling, culture and internal and external political conflict of the enemy kingdom. Minus the exciting action scenes, humorous dialogue, and top-notch ensemble rapport, of course. The finale is anti-climatic and unsatisfying.

So do yourself a favor and just watch Young Blood 2 instead. You can thank me for watching this so that you don't have to.

I rate this 6/10 for daring to so blatantly knock off something pretty good only to make it a lot worse.

Leia Mais

By Far The Most Beautiful Yet Underrated Drama Of All Time

This drama had so much depth and rawness to it that you can’t help wishing it would never end.
The two female leads who started on the wrong foot turned out to be each other’s comfort and strength - what a beautiful friendship they had with so much love and respect for each other.

I applaud how Lee Sang Yeob and Park Ha Sun used their eyes and facial expressions more than dialogues to convey a wide spectrum of emotions - undeniably they are artists in the truest meaning of the word. Bravo to them and to the director and scriptwriters who brought out the best in them.

Leia Mais