Reviews

I'm torn between the 9 and 10. It's now amongst my top tier of favorite kdramas. I'd give it a 9.5, so I round up for this XD.
Let me just say out of the 60 kdramas I've watched thus far, this is the longest one at 28 episodes. I typically try to avoid anything over 20 episodes. It's why I pretty much don't watch American television anymore, because the shows never end. Even in some of the 20 episode dramas, it can drag a bit during the later episodes. And yet ironic, this being the longest one I've seen and I didn't feel like it dragged at all. Maybe I was just prepared for it, but it kept a good story, and solid subplots throughout, with well written and developing characters. Sure, a lot may look at this drama and say it has everything your typical kdrama has, but unlike most, it writes it in well. If I had one word to describe what Kdramas are typically about, I would say "misunderstandings". It's the foundation of pretty much every one. Of course this one is no different. However, I really didn't feel it was because of ignorance or stupidity (well, maybe except for the father). Sure, the ditsy mother and daughter combo can be irritating and they need absolutely everything spelled out for them, but they aren't amongst the main characters. Everyone who is really important in this drama actually seems to use their head most of the time, and when a misunderstanding frustrated me, there seemed to actually be legitimate reasoning behind it, unlike a lot of dramas where it is just straight up annoying naivety. It's well written and the cast is great.
I'm in love with Han Hyo Joo, XD and yes it is the reason I even watched this. She is fantastic as always. I'm a big fan of Lee Seung Gi as well, and he was great. The grandma is such a refreshing character too. By far the smartest character in the drama, when it's the parent and grandparent figures in most dramas that are usually the most hair pull worthy. But she is super likable and never does anything to frustrate. Ironically, as the character is supposed to be old fashioned, and yet she feels like the complete opposite most of the time. The villain of the story is great here too and I really couldn't believe how evil they were at times, and yet I've never felt so much sympathy toward a villain during final episodes. You always want their comeuppance, but here they brought me to tears.
Overall, just really great and never a dull moment. Definitely amongst my favorites.
As for the music. IDK, maybe I'm just burned out on drama osts, that nothing really stuck out to me. Or maybe I was always so interested in the show that I just didn't care. I usually like a lot of drama osts. But lets be honest, so many of them get made, that they are usually uninspired.

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Captivating

This series steals your attention right off the bat. They got into it before we could even learn their names. While I'm not a big intimacy fan, I can see why Max and Tul are so heavily loved in this industry. They are not afraid to really get into their roles. they are so comfortable around each other, and because of that, they create a beautiful love story. I LOVE friends to lovers, so it wasn't hard to start enjoying their plot at all. They had amazing chemistry and their story was so well-thought-out and executed. I didn't love the vengeful girlfriend bit, but I usually fog that part out of my brain anyways. Yihwa was an amazing sidekick and acted like such a loyal friend. I was actually rooting for her and Fai the entire time, but whatever.

Can't believe the story added in some nasty ass doctor that preyed over Farm instead of having him get with Phu. He was RIGHT THERE, it could've been so easy. I hated their storyline, right off the bat. I had a bad feeling about the doctor and I was right, He was dirty and perverted and try to trick Farm into doing things even when he didn't want to. He was a terrible person and an even worse boyfriend. I was always so uncomfortable each time they came up on the screen.

What was the point of a Phu and the teacher? Another plotline that was purposeless and not enjoyable to watch. I skipped most of their scenes. One, because it was uninteresting, and two, because a teacher should NEVER have a relationship with a student, it's just too taboo for me, I really can't help but hate it with a passion. That's why the overall score is at an 8. Scratch the teacher and doctor plot. throw Phu and Farm together, and you have yourself an amazing series.

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Was a good short version but…

If you see my review on the original W it has 10/10. Nothing can EVER beat the original! But this was a good try for a mini drama. However… the ending lacked compared to the original. Give. Me. More. Ending!!!! Grrr. So frustrating! It left me wanting more of them!

Storyline - it covered some of the most important parts. It was not bad overall. It ran pretty close to the original. I felt it also ran smooth and not choppy like some mini dramas get. Sorry I am going to end up comparing them because this drama is based off the original but this is a “Chinese” version. It is not bad but I am not happy with the ending. As I stated above. So I knocked the storyline down to 7/10.

Acting/Cast - I felt they did a spot on job. Was not bad at all. They did great.

Rewatch - yes. The Korean version is long, BUT really, really good. But sometimes it is nice to watch a mini drama that does not take to long. This one was not too bad. But that dang ending…

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In the beginning, I was confused. At the end, I was confused, annoyed and disappointed

This has got to be the first series that after watching the first episode, I had no idea what the heck was happening and what was going to happen during the course of ten episodes. This series really had me scratching my head. And I know a lot of people would ask 'Then why did you continue it?' Two simple reasons: 1. I never drop a series and 2. I wanted to know what happened till the end. And what happened has just left me confused, annoyed and disappointed.

Story-4.5/10
In all honesty, I had NO clue whatsoever about whatever was going on in this series. I can safely say that I was confused for the first seven episodes (yes, you heard me!). Heck! I didn't even know the woman who went to jail was Inpha (the Chief)'s sister until I saw it in the comments section! I only finally started to get the grasp by episode 8. And by then it was a little too late.

That and the fact that I was getting annoyed with nearly every episode up until 7 or 8 where Ken was getting choked. Anyhow, they go through all that crap ONLY for them not to get back together. I mean, it was already hard for them to get back together due to the fact that Din and the doctor literally stole the face of a dead man and gave Din his name. So, why not kill the Chief on top of that as well? But I must say that the cinematography was indeed beautiful (so that will get a .5 from me). So, for all of this, I'm giving the story a 4.5.

Acting/ Cast-5/10
If I had any idea what this series was about before episode 8, I would have given their acting a higher score. But I have no idea and out of the kindness of my heart, I'm giving them a 5. However, I would like to add that hopefully in the future Boom Raweeqit Jiraphonggkanon will get a better main role. Because I knew him from the hot mess that was 'My Dream' and he was one of the few actors that I liked there.

Music-7/10
The music was the only good thing about this whole series. So, for that, I will give a 7.

Rewatch Valu-2/10
Yeah...I can't rewatch this. Because, as I have stated before, I was confused for the majority of the episodes. And I don't think rewatching this series will help me in any way at all.so, I'm going with a 2.

Overall-4.5/10
Overall, I give this series a 4.5. Maybe if it was executed better, it would have gotten a higher score from me.

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One of my most favourite dramas that I can watch again and again

First of all I dont really write reviews but since there are a lot of negative comments I decided to share my opinion. I absolutely love the story. Its not a drama that you can relax while watching. Its exiting and there are not any plotlines left opened. It kept me hooked from the start to finish. I cant really understand why anyone would hate this drama but perhaps it was not easy to understand the plot bc it was very complicated. You can get better understanding of it if you know at least a little bit about the butterfly effect or have an opinion on time travel. Perhaps marvel fans will understand :) It is science fiction after all.

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No one can unsee The Untamed nor can they ever forget it.

Nowadays, we are blessed with great bromance/BL dramas and movies from many places around the world. But only a handful of them can leave an amazing impression on us. One that you always end up coming back for more.
The Untamed is the best example for me.

First of all, they had to change many things of the original story because of the censorship in China. In the novel, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are obviously lovers, but in the series, they are "bosom friends". Nonetheless, the story was still amazing despite the changes. he scenery is breathtaking, and each clan's design and concept is brilliantly thought out. Despite being labelled as a "xianxia" drama, The Untamed incorporates many elements of traditional wuxia dramas while blending them with a new style. The cinematography and transition from one scene to the next were both excellent. The plot is far from boring, and the story flows extremely well. Once I started watching, I couldn't stop. But I'm going to say that the highlight of the series, was definitely the chemistry between Xiao Zhan (Wei Wuxian ) and Wang Yibo (Lan Wangji ). Even thought they were portrayed as "bosom friends", they obviously left us with the biggest impression that the both of them loved each other dearly and that they were in fact soulmates. No matter what people say, this was far from a bromance drama. I'm also going to praise the other actors because all of them were incredible in their roles. I'm going to be completely honest with you, the CGI's were not that spectacular and at times they were simply alright, but I couldn't care less at this point because I got hooked on the complexity of the story and what each character brings. I will just say that overall, this drama is a real masterpiece and that I will probably end up watching it a hundred times. Also the Ost is so catchy and you might end up downloading it or listen to it multiple times. (The two leads actually sing that song together)

PS. I wish I was better with words or able to give better reviews, but I just want to say that this drama was and will always be one of the best Chinese BL drama for me and hopefully my review left you wanting to watch this amazing drama.

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Superb drama that will break your heart in so many ways.

This story is about a poor high school kid, who decides to swap his life with his wealthy friend with the help of a magic golden spoon. The transition between Lee Seung Chun and Hwang Tae Yong was pretty smooth without confusion and the story is heartbreaking in many ways.

Honestly, although LSC became wealthy, the one who got the short end of the stick from this swap was also him. LSC loved his family so much and he couldn't handle seeing them suffer because of his incompetent dad, so he had to take things into his hands and decided to swap his parents with a rich one. But he felt guilty and lived with that guilt for over 10 years while looking at his family continuing to live happily with the HTY instead.

Why I say he got the short end of the stick was because the one who gained the most from the swap was HTY. He got two loving parents and no longer had to live in a stifling rich family. He could live however he wanted and he had LSC who was looking over their family like a guarding angel. Although poor he didn't have to suffer as much as LSC did when he was poor. And LSC lived that most dangerous 10 years for him and survived. Because if HTY had to live those 10 years, with his cowardly personality he would have been fertilized in some vineyard in a foreign country, with Seo Joon Tae behind his back. While LSC lived it for him and successfully made a comeback.

The overall story had lots of ups and downs and every moment was perfectly delivered by the cast, until the very end the writer kept us on the hook on who will end up as who. I'm not going to judge this drama because of the ending of this drama because overall it is really damn good. Because I didn't see that ending coming. It was abrupt and I kind of felt that all of LSC effort went to waste in just a few seconds. But also, I am glad he survived in some way or the other. So in a way, the ending had me conflicted but the story was superb and I won't let the ending make me feel bad in any way.

This drama is also a place we get to see, Yook Sung Jae in his sexy suit, making my heart melt in so many different ways. I would recommend anyone to watch this drama because each episode will keep you wanting to watch more.

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This is more of a character-driven drama, typical of Kudo Kankuro's work with his comedic touches.

The story circle around three "Yutori Generation" lads - Sakama Masakazu, and his friends, Yamaji and Maribu. The story and characters represent the issues, problems faced by the Yutori generations (who are now in late 20s), whether in family, at work or socially. Quarter-life crisis, if you like to label it, but the dorama covered a lot more than that. While some aspects of the dorama may seems too specific towards Japanese society, but if you really look at it, issues like generation gap, stereotypical views and self-esteem on oneself, etc. , can be found in any society or any individual. All of those issues are expressed in a funny, interesting way through the growing friendship of 3 main lead characters.

Regarding to the cast, this is my first time watching Yagira Yuuya and he was impressive. Masaki too, he made a good match with Ando Sakura and two other Yutori guys. I would say Tori Matsu's performance as Yamaji is the most outstanding. Yoshida Kotaro also had a great match with the three Yutori lads as rental ossan.

Insert songs are made up of Kankaku Pierrot's songs. The band did the opening for Black Clover anime, and I would say they perfectly matched the story and scenarios with their songs.

Probably not the one among most popular and iconic dramas. But for me personally, this is one among my all time favorite J dorama since it really reflects the things happening in my life too. Enjoy the show!

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quick explanation why you should watch

So I will begin by saying that the comments here are very 'this would have been good if-' type of thing. I just finished this movie and won't beat around a bush. The ending was both predictable and you wouldn't see it coming at the same time. All in all it was not completely satisfying to make you lose all the built up suspense that is why many people blame ending for this. I wish it ended different but I am also amazed by how different ending it was compared to other movies. Usually they drop the suspense by ending and decide to ether make it happy or unhappy one, but this movie kept the suspense going until last seconds.

I try not to put out any spoilers out here because I hope this will be the reason why you decide to watch this instead of listening to others and not give it a shot. This lowkey became one of my favorite asians movies AND I AM GLAD I WATCHED IT WITH LIGHTS ON. This is one of creepiest movies I seen, it was well executed and always kept the right atmosphere on.

Did you see movie Grave Encounters? It will have similar moments from there which I honestly love because it takes traits from The Stone Tape theory and more.

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Watch this fun bad show

This show was a roller coaster. The way the story took a 180 turn was crazy. And I didn’t hate it, because it was actually really interesting but it was just so unexpected. The one thing I did hate was the fact that the actors could not act AT ALL. Literally everyone, except one person, looked so awkward in their acting. I feel bad for the writers because the shows storyline was good, it’s just the actors made these scenes look so bad that it was actually funny. Not personally hating on the actors though, just saying to do better next time. Anyways, I would say watch it because it was fun to watch

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It's been a week since I watched this 2 parts special, but don't worry people, since this is Nodame Cantabile we're talking about, I'm confident that I can still remember it crystal clear.

The first installment of the special is fantastic but the second part is my favorite (if you have watched this, they you know what I'm talking about)! This special picks up from where it left off on the drama series. It's still hilarious as ever. On this special, we got to meet new amazing people. If you love the drama series, you'll definitely like this as well.

STORY: 10
Really love it. Though compared to the series, you'll find the musical things more longer on the special, but I wouldn't call them boring because...

ACTING/CAST: 10
The cast did an amazing job on portraying their roles. Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi were amazing as usual. And so are the supporting casts, I don't really have anything bad to say on this department.

MUSIC: 8
Umm, it's classic music, right?

REWATCH VALUE: 9
I wouldn't mind rewatching when I have time.

OVERALL: 10


I've got so much to say but I'm afraid it would be full of spoilers.
Fasten your seat belt, and let's fly to Europe! Mukyaa!!!




(I know this is not related ... FYI on this upcoming movie, starring Ueno Juri with Matsumoto Jun: http://mydramalist.com/japanese-movie/5785/hidamari-no-kanojo)

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A mystery suspense story that has more twists than an ice cream twist

How good is the script in this drama? It is so good, even though the production quality is poor (and quite cheesy), even though the part-time actors could not hold up the acting (especially towards the end), this drama still gets a 8.1 at China's book and film rating site- Douban. And if I am to rate this drama on the story and script, and just on this aspect, I would rate it 15/10. Unfortunately we have to consider the other aspects of acting and production quality hence this is a 9/10 for me.

Unlike j and kdramas, cdramas seldom have a good and tight script. It does better at slice-of-life than in mystery suspense. Especially when there are battle of wits, it would usually lower the intelligence of the bad guys so it can show off how clever the leads are. And if there are plot twists, it only happens at the end of the drama, and usually just 1 or 2 plot twists. A few examples are Joy of Life, The Bad Kids, The Long Night. And these dramas, we would praise them for the scriptwriting, how well-written, how sincere is the production, etc.

The Record of Strange Things just blew all these out of the water. It show there are scriptwriters who can really put in the efforts to write a coherent, fast pace and intelligent script. A story where the leads and all characters have above average intelligence. No one has their intelligence watered down just so the story can reach a conclusion. And the battle of wits, especially in the 20+ eps are soooo goooood. Plot twists? There are so many in this drama I lost count! I remember at least 5 times that the story has fooled me! There was this ep, after I watched it, I decided to stop for that day, and post a comment online that it is understandable why the gang had made that mistake, that it is within normal human thinking not to check for that item..... Then I watched the next ep on the next day, and realized it was a trap setup by the gang. They haven't made a mistake at all..... Please note that I have said earlier, that the main cast are part-time actors, so it is not their great acting which fooled me, but the way the story was written that made me really believe that was true, I didn't smell a rat at all. And this is how it is, several times throughout, I would be "I think this is sus" but story shows me otherwise, then something else happens and I sus the same character again....

Yet I have been informed, this is still not the production team's best drama. Their best is the 3 seasons of Moral Peanuts, especially the season 3 which has a rating of 9.1 at douban. So yup, I should be starting at Moral Peanuts next.

It is quite sad that such a production team do not get the support it needs from investors. Because towards the end, the drama isn't as exciting, although story is still good and going strong, it felt like something is missing. Partly because of the acting, the actors could not express the urgency and desperation in the last arc. And partly because of poor production, the special efforts and venues that they use are too bare and maybe camera equipment too that made the last part suffered in storytelling. But overall, this would probably be the best drama of the year for me, if not at least 2nd or 3rd best. I highly recommend you check out this, if you don't mind the poorer production quality, the story is really fantastic, especially in the 20+ eps. Such fast pace and clever writing and art direction.

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