Reviews

I really enjoyed it. It was funny and smart and satisfying. I tend to prefer full dramas to web dramas but they utilized their platform really well. Even though the episodes were short, they didn't feel like it and they managed to feel complete. This show did an excellent job telling compact stories that still together created a cohesive narrative.

These actors were nearly all completely new to me but they all did an excellent job. The characters were different from one another but their relationships were believable and felt familiar and realistic. Their growth and change was subtle but excellent.

I found myself laughing during most most episodes and I was also very impressed with the powerful lines and lessons they all contained. Each episode deals with a different issue, ranging from creepy and sexist professors and sexual harassment (#MeToo) to navigating relationship problems, and they're handled well. But it also deals with the very real issue of the culture of sexism and misogyny and the pushback against change. The show discusses fear and power and fighting back against injustice.

This webseries is both very enjoyable and also extremely relevant and important. I am very glad that there is something out there like this and I hope that it is something that will inspire and empower others.

Leia Mais

A Lovey Dovely Drama With Touches of Emotional Scenes

In *Youthful Glory*, a medical romance drama, the vulnerability of lead character Do Ji Uin becomes a magnet for women who long to protect their man. Much of the series left me puzzled—how could a drowning incident involving a friend trigger PTSD in Dr. Do? Shin Ye Eun, portraying Yook Ha Ri, was a refreshing discovery. Her natural, unblemished features stood out in an industry often marked by cosmetic enhancements. Yet the drama never revealed how she actually resolve the scandal that drew her back to the island.

The finale was predictable, but I admired the production team’s effort to make the surgical scenes strikingly realistic. Comic relief came through hooligan Yeom Byeong Cheol, balancing the heartbreak of Ha Ri’s grandmother’s passing. Nurse Um Jeong Seon, initially unsympathetic with her deep-seated inferiority complex, underwent a heartening transformation. Meanwhile, Dr. Do’s battle against the governor seemed hopeless until Yeom, in a surprising turn, provided crucial evidence—even at his own expense.

The drama frequently highlighted the young doctors bonding with islanders, underscoring the spirit of community. Ultimately, each staff departed for better career prospects or National Service, leaving Nurse Hwang Sin Hye as the clinic’s steadfast fixture.

Leia Mais

"As it always has been and always will be, lovers will repeat the same mistakes by fighting, breaking up, hating, and missing each other. Its always spring as long as we are together"

A very strong and meaningful message given.

`Story`
Although the web-drama was short and note that I haven't read the web-toon, the development of the characters & plot was amazing. It shows how two people loved each other purely and after their break up even though they're both trying to move on in different ways there's still a sparkle that keeps them looking back and that's cause they're still in love, no matter how many times they're trying to deny it not just to others but themselves as well.

The flashbacks were so touching and sweet & with the combination of comedy during the whole web-drama Istg it was so refreshing and amusing to watch.

`Acting / Casting`
Not going to hide that I am a BJ & IC so of course I adore both Sandara Park & Kang Seung Yoon, but their acting was still surprising and in a good way of course. They're both amazing at acting and even though it might have been weird for them to act as a couple considering the age gap as well, it's amazing how they managed to make us viewers put that aside and get into their characters so intensively. Some of the other actors & actresses were models and I am so amazed at the outcome of their acting skills, I'd trully consider watching more of them each.

`Music`
Not going to mention how much I loved the music. Other than Wild & Young which is a fantastic song, I fell in love with the duets. Acoustic versions suit Dara's voice best & with Seung Yoon's soulful voice it didn't last much before I got them chills.

`Rewatch Value`
I loved this web-drama and I can't wait to see more of both Kang Seung Yoon & Sandara Park as well as the other actors & actresses. I'd def rewatch it not just for the plot but also for the puns made, for example the come back home scene or . . 'glad i wasn't an idol - especially not at yg' :' )

If you want to watch this, I recommend it at all cost!!

Leia Mais

Cute story, nice acting but I am so mad at the ending.
And don't get me wrong its happy and all

BUT COME ONNNNN....

Anyone who has finished this is saying the same thing
Major second male lead syndrome
He is perfect, nice, sweet, caring, patient, cares for her body although its not his I mean heeeellooooo
He gets her her dream job and a new apartment
He hell pays rent

And not to the male lead
Rich guy and he is just ok
He is responsible at work but when it comes to his personal life
terrible
He lets people talk ill off her behind her back, he lets his aunt insult her to her face ...
He never puts her first and yes he misses her and all but that wasn't enough
To be honest he should get shot it something for her and even then I wouldn't forgive him for what he had done
Until the very end he never does anything for her and only wants his way

ARGGGGGGGG

But overall it was fun to watch
That was my rant

Leia Mais

Overall - The story is not original. It reminds me of other Japanese BL I have watched but just a more modern version. There is more consent and acceptance between the two characters. It's a decent story. Of course the couple is cute. The tag "pure love" is correct. There are steamy scenes, but those do not make a movie for me.

Vagueness - Throughout the movie, the couple faced many problems that were lightly glazed over. The positive is, we as viewers don't have to sit in angst for the characters to reconcile. The negative is, the story feels slightly disconnected. Although, the story is very cohesive considering this.

Acting/Cast - The acting of the main characters was great. There was some cringey or unnatural acting with the smaller roles and one-liner roles (there are more than you think), but not really a big deal.

****Ending - Vague like the rest of it. LOL. Happy in my opinion.

Music - It was good. Nothing to complain about.

Rewatch Value - The couple is cute, but with the plethora of BL dramas and movies I have, I would not pick to rewatch this one. The story is generic. Because of that, my chance of re-watching is low.

Leia Mais

The story basically revolves around the political issues and the stolen money.
It was good at the beginning, i like how they resolve the mystery. But then focus of the story shifted to something else and makes it too draggy.

Romance doesn't seem to be the main plot, the leads were cute, but they don't have much chemistry.
The misunderstanding between them doesn't dragged for too long. But throughout the drama, they keep lying and pushing each other 'for their own good'. When i thought, 'they finally understand that they need to be honest with each other', they lied and hide again. It's just a tiring circle.

Instead i like the side couple, like xiao chen - ying yu and su zui - princess yu they got better chemistry in my opinion. Prince Ning was also a good character, he comes off as clumsy most times but was smart when needed.

There are some annoying characters, but they didn't bother much.

The acting were okay. I think the problem lies within the script. Don't expect much from the cgi and fighting scenes.

Conclusion; it's not bad, but not good
I do like the comedic part. But overall, it's not my favorite.

Leia Mais

Amazing and Talented Young Cast, but the Storytelling couldn't keep up with them.

Subjective Gut Rating: 7.75

In the early episodes of “Taste”, it reminded me of another K-drama, “Celebrity”. Set in high school, teenager Bambi has always wanted to be popular and famous. But no matter how much makeup she puts on or tries to distinguish herself, nothing is working for her.

This is until she becomes the Princess of Trash, and with this viral fame befriended a group of rich and popular kids. You know the drill, her eyes are really open now into a world she’s not familiar with. She wants to not only stay there but climb to the top.

I binged through the first 4 episodes of “Taste” easily. We are slowly introduced to the dynamics and the background of the teenagers. We also follow the initial steps Bambi took to distinguish herself. You may not agree with her ways, but you can’t deny her courage and persistence in achieving her dreams. However, the second half of the drama falters. It became too melodramatic and lost the initial fun. The pacing also slows down. It’s already a very short drama, yet these 8 episodes feel very long. “Taste” was unable to find the balance in the latter half when it dived into the consequences of actions. The tone shifts understandably as it should be, but the execution is where I have trouble with. Of course, it also could be because I was very tired after work, and I just couldn’t focus more on the serious stories.

I actually like all the characters, though not all are saints. They are grey and interesting. I wish the drama would be longer so that it can develop the relationships and friendships between them better. At times, things seem to move really fast, and at times, it has no development but harps on the same tune. I want to know more about the friendship between Pure and Namkhang instead of just a couple flashbacks. I want to know more about Tokyo and his boyfriend. I want to know more about Bambi and Mhong, similarly I want more than just flashbacks. I want a little more development between Diesel and Dream when they were gaming, since after they met in-person, all things happened too fast. So much is being glossed over with a couple flashbacks here and there.

On the other hand, I think the major strength of this drama is the incredible and talented young actors and actresses. I have to say, I am incredibly impressed. Before watching “Taste”, I think I only recognized Phuwin and Charlette (I might have seen the rest in other roles that I don’t remember). I’ve seen Phuwin in a few dramas before and was very surprised to see that he can really act. I’ve seen Charlette in “Bangkok Blossom” and already knew she could act. But I have to say, she was more amazing in “Bangkok Blossom” due to her character, but she’s good in “Taste” as well. Mabelz as our female lead was amazing. Her big eyes are mesmerizing. I have to say she was a big surprise because as I went through her drama list, this is only her second drama and first main role. Oh and I discovered the cute patootie, Tony Anthony. He’s the sweetest guy in the whole drama, and he’s just so adorable. LOL. The rest of the supporting cast is awesome as well and they are all very charismatic. What a talented cast!

This is not a cheap production. You can see there’s some money poured into the drama with beautiful costumes, hair and makeup, lighting and sets. I guess they make good use of the money they get from all the advertisements. Unfortunately, I was unable to find good English subs for this drama. I watched the second half with very poor AI-translation and that’s not helping when I already was having a hard time enjoying the last few episodes

“Taste” has the potential to be a much better drama especially with such a talented cast. It has the ingredients of very interesting characters but does not have enough time to develop them all. This could easily be a 12 to 14-episode drama with better developed stories and pacing. I am disappointed to not rate this higher because I did have a hard time watching the last few episodes. It’s not a bad drama, but the first few episodes raised my expectations and I was disappointed. I was debating a 7.5 or 8.0 rating for a long time. I am going to settle with 7.75 (rounding up to 8.0) because I like the cast so much.




Completed: 7/18/2025 Review #604

Leia Mais

Very funny, a little campy with spicy moments

I do love Max and Nat's chemistry, it's so interesting seeing them play in reversed roles and its very refreshing to see Thai BL characters switch between who is topping and bottoming especially considering the size difference with this couple in particular, I feel like this sort of dynamic is shown less in BL. I do recommend going back and watching episodes 3 and 4 of Y-Destiny just to get an idea of who the characters Sun and Nuea are before the body swap since this is a Spin off series but its definitely not needed with the way they set up these characters.
My problems with this series is with the repetitiveness of the swapping, the constant reiteration of their issues, I think maybe this series would’ve been better as a shorter 5 ep mini series. It feels to drawn out for me for what it is.

Leia Mais

more like 8.8?

apparently there's a difference between a movie and a film, the 1st one has an obvious plot and development while the other is deeper more symbolic, and this falls in the 2nd category.

they don't talk alot and the story is reeaaallly uneventful, but the 1st part and the last part were really well done, I was emotionally invested in the last part and I went through so many emotions!

I started this 90% for my Yoo Teo week and another part for Chun Woo Hee from Be Melo but Jung Jae Kwang stole the show, he was slightly stalkerish and there were alot of unnecessary scenes but over all I really enjoyed it

Leia Mais

I am a sucker for a good meet cute and it was really fun to see these two leads have such electric chemistry from the very beginning. Their chemistry was definitely the strongest part of the show.

Moo-hak ended up as a very sweet character that I enjoyed, but it was hard to watch the way he yelled at her so much in the beginning. Da-li on the other hand was so passive that it was very frustrating. The show explains it away as her being just kind of rich and naive, but she seemed to lack any survival or basic life skills altogether, which felt odd when she’s a thirty-something woman who has lived on different continents. The dynamic between the two of them was a little rough towards the beginning when Moo-hak was acting so hostile, but it was enjoyable after he softened a little. At the end of the show he was so obsessed with her and sweet to her, so he did have a good evolution of his character.

A lot of what didn’t work in this show was all of the scheming subplots. Everything to do with the different companies illegal maneuvers was so boring to watch and it really took away from the rest of the show. The plot could have been much stronger if they focused on the romance and Da-li struggling with losing her father and having to grow up, but instead they threw in all of these random real estate crimes, drug trafficking, and other crime plots that made things really convoluted.

The second male lead is probably the worst one I’ve ever seen, he was like a cartoon villain. It was infuriating to watch the scenes he was in. Moo-hak’s family also really seemed like terrible people and it did not feel like they deserved a redemption arc at all. I know Korea has a very different culture, but the adoption plot line was baffling. I have no idea if the way the show made it so scandalous is at all accurate, but it felt way over the top.

The final episode was such a huge letdown that it really bothered me. It felt like the show was trying so hard to pull one over on the audience that it was willing to have a terrible final episode as long as they could do that.

The art museum as a backdrop for the show was a cool idea and some of the installations and exhibits were very visually interesting. Da-li’s dad was also very endearing and it would’ve been great to see more of him, even if just in flashbacks.

Leia Mais

Confusing but worth it

This was hella confusing but come on...we all came for Doyoung.

This drama gave me a headache even before it aired. I was scurrying around looking for sources to watch it and after the "first episode" aired, it turned out to be the whole drama. (https://youtu.be/gL9dbtDRl2M)

As for the story, I didn't watch the previous seasons because I also couldn't find them. It was confusing at first, but near the end, I got the hang of it. They definitely needed to spend more time on relational development in the story, especially Son Ji Woo and Kang Sun Min.

As for the acting, Doyoung was good considering this is his first acting gig. The female lead's acting was much more natural, considering that this is also one of her first acting gigs alongside "True Beauty" as a minor role. The support characters did their fair share of confusing me, but I don't think I should dissect this too hard because it's only a short.

The best part of this drama is probably the OSTs that we got from Doyoung (https://youtu.be/PyWedT7IVkw, https://youtu.be/gmzSPOx5gmQ) I especially liked 'Night Air.'

Overall, I would only RECCOMEND if you are an nctzen. If not, I don't think this is right for you :(

Leia Mais

Fascinating, because it takes very Japanese based characters and storyline and has Taiwanese actors portraying the range of emotions that aren't in your typical TW drama.

I've watched all the ISWAK dramas, and wasn't too impressed with Joe Cheng's acting there, and if I hadn't seen this wouldn't have believed he was as good as he is based on those dramas alone. He is able to convincingly portray the range of emotions that are quite demanding for his character in this drama. He basically carries this drama, I have to say. (And I don't say this because I am a fan of his, because I wasn't based on his ISWAK role, but you'll have to watch a few episodes to understand!)

There is a good dose of romance, enough to make you feel that warm fuzzy feeling. However, I also found there was too much crying for too little reasons in order to tie the characters together. Everyone loves a good emotional tug in a drama, but sometimes you wanted to shout "Stop being such a crybaby over nothing!" to the characters.

As with many dramas, it could have been 16 episodes, but I understand the emphasis was on character development in this drama, and many shorter dramas rush this.

In summary, I would watch this for the great acting job that Joe Cheng did, the oddity of characters, and the different viewpoints that are brought in a romance drama.

Leia Mais

I wonder what everyone loved that I missed?

Things that stay in my mind: Shao Fei's exaggerated facial expressions, Tang Yi's meaningless blank stares, bad environmental shots and absurd plot, cute workplace friends and fatherly chairman who are very enjoyable to watch.

When Tang Yi gives a little face, Shao Fei, who falls in love without waiting or thinking, immediately accepts it without doubting or wondering if I am gay. Because if your same sex is close to you, your first thought is to be gay. Because there is no such thing as intimacy, friendship 😩

Our second couple was very nice, but it was cut very short. I loved both characters 😭 I wish they had reduced the scenes of the first couple and increased the scenes of this couple

In general, it is a series that I did not like, I did not feel much passion, I could not connect with the characters. Of course, it's still going, whoever likes it will like it again. If it got such a high vote, I respect it to the end. I wonder what everyone loved that I missed?

Leia Mais