A more interesting season but suffers from lack of main couple's scenes and strange ending
Note: Because there is no available English subs, I had to watch this via the Portuguese subs and just do Portuguese-to-English translations OR when there was no Portuguese subs, I had to just do Chinese-to-English translations and make educated guesses on what's happening. I believe I understood about 80-90% of what was happening in an episode, but I did have to skim some parts because of lack of good translations. (I endured all of this for Zhang Zhehan and Li Yitong!!)----------------------------------------------
Season 1 was like an origin story for Nie Qing Cheng and for the world-building/myth-building of Demons. It was also more focused on the love between Qing Cheng and Ming Xia (and the love triangle including You Tong), so overall, season 1 was more romantic soap opera with some context building. Though touted as only the first half and not the complete story, season 1 can almost pretty much stand by itself. It really feels like it's a whole season on its own VS just being the first half of a long season.
That's because season 2 has a bit of "Arsenal Military Academy" vibe and takes on a bit of a different tone, pacing, and has a whole variety of characters that were a lot more interesting. Most of the characters from season 1 are not in season 2. Besides what the summary of this drama says, season 2's main plot conflict is a rival demon group that wants to take out Nie Qing Cheng's group and Nie Qing Cheng having to find out who is this bad demon group's leaders and taking them out as they are harming a lot of innocents. Ming Xia is searching for the girl in his dream. He also joins the demon hunters because of a tragic accident that happens.
Season 2 tones down the romance between Nie Qing Cheng and Ming Xia and focuses on secondary characters--which is good and bad. I adore them and wanted more of them, but I also liked the supporting characters who added more interesting dynamic and logical conflicts. Because Ming Xia become a demon hunter, I enjoyed the bittersweet angst of Nie Qing Cheng and Ming Xia reuniting and Qing Cheng having the burden of keeping all the secrets while trying not to allow them to fall into the same fate as season 1.
Nie Qing Cheng becomes more capable by being able to fight and is more cunning. Ming Xia is still the righteous and true-hearted person he is from the first season, but as I mentioned in my review of the first season too, the writing for Ming Xia is always kind of stuck in the same place. Although he's the main character, half of the time, he's not doing the action but is responding to others. He gets manipulated and lied to and, frankly, suffers so much in a variety of ways. He is the most pitiful character for me. I love him dearly and feel bad for all the things he's gone through.
The supporting characters for season 2 are a lot more interesting. We have Yong Ye, demon boy who does espionage, and Duan Shao Qian, instructor of Demon-Hunting Academy. These two's relationship quickly became one of my favorite things about this show (and it gave off some serious BL vibes too). They are pretty fleshed out as characters, especially Duan Shao Qian who we see his backstory and why he becomes attached to Yong Ye.
There's Yao Bi Tao, who I didn't like very much because of her pushiness and her lies, but the actress did a great job of portraying this character and making her sympathetic.
Fu Xing Bang, who is a pretty good and complex antagonist. I loved to hate him because he was pretty cunning. Unlike the doctor antagonist from season 1 (who started out well but ended up being just really repetitive and annoying), Fu Xing Bang was pretty interesting throughout.
The directing is pretty fun this season, especially for the fight scenes that felt very cool and exciting.
The biggest fault of this show is the writing. Acting and soundtracks and all of that are pretty fine. It's just that the writing of this show can be lazy and mediocre even though it has so much potential.
There are some unnecessary angst/drama, random character introduction toward the middle half or later half of the drama, and then random important plot points added at the end. Truly, the writing slips a lot toward the end--similar to how it was in season 1. So, it was unsurprising and even made me laugh out because I'm just like "WTF."
Ultimately, I enjoyed it for Zhang Zhehan and Li Yitong who are both great actors and can make any scene emotional. I enjoyed the supporting characters' relationships and watching the truths unfold. I was more invested in this season too since it was more than what season 1 was (which was just a love triangle and a repetitive tiresome antagonist doing the same thing to our protagonists who keep falling for it).
The occasional bad writing did make me laugh. I wouldn't think too hard about this drama and any plot holes it presents. Just have fun with this drama. Although, I think I should warn folks now: the ending is ambiguous. So, keep that in mind before you start.
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台上一分钟，台下十年功 (Every min on stage comes from decade of hard work)
When my friend first recommended this show to me, I checked it out mostly out of curiosity - because this show has a couple of artists that I recognize.What got me stayed on after was the familiar songs and performances, especially the 1st episode - oh my, how nostalgic, and before I knew it, I was hooked and binge-watched this show the entire day to the latest episodes.
Firstly, the narrative and editing makes us care for the brothers. I really enjoyed the way the producer edited and strung the narrative together in CMBF. It was more than the songs and performances. CMBF managed to show us that the brothers’ talent and persistence over the years / decades led them to standing at Call Me by Fire stage - it showcased their professionalism and hard work in the face of challenge, as well as their healthy rivalry in motivating and influencing each other to present their best performances for the audience.
At first, I only care about the songs and performances. And then, I start to look forward to the clips of their practice and commentary prior to the performances. And then and then, I start to watch the brothers' interaction in selecting for the songs - which is often very comical and entertaining.
Team survival competition has a lot of relatable elements to corporates world, more than one might thinks. This is where you can tell how the experiences as well as ability to make decisions and judgment of some brothers that's good for the team stand out more than the other.
Here is when wits and slightly more strategic / leadership thoughts made some brothers (e.g. Max Zhang, Nathan, Cannon, Bridge, Pax) stand out in a bunch of nerdy...ahem, I mean famous artists and musicians who generally don't put much thoughts beyond their interests and profession.
Indeed, the teams that go further were the ones that have good leaders and followers, each contributing their talent to create something together that individual alone can't.
Special shoutout to Nathan, Max Zhang, Vincent, Pax, Andrew Yin and Welly Zhang - the former three in leading their teams, the latter three in supporting their teams. Of course this is a biased comment. Each brother’s team to your own!
At the core of it, Call Me by Fire is a Music Variety Show, structured in competitions. All brothers gather together for their love of music and performances. I have always been more of a pop song consumer, hence my bias will be more towards the performances with songs I am familiar with. Through this show though, I got a better understanding of the different genre of songs and better appreciation of them. It is one added perspectives to better understand how the world works.
Which brings me to the next point, I now have a greater appreciation to raps and rappers' culture. I used to dislike rap a lot as I find it too noisy and the rappers too aggressive. Through this show, I find that rappers' culture are a bit like what Vincent said - the modern world of 江湖 (the pugilist world) - rappers care a lot for brotherhood and their own set of principles. They are a bunch of misfit and often misunderstood by the society. The rappers that come to this show really are the ones that step out of their comfort zone, presenting rap to the audience as well as showing that the rappers too have the same struggles we all resonate with - and that rapping is their way to relate with each other, with the world and themselves. Personal favorite rapper is naturally MC Jin - his enthusiasm, optimism and carefreeness - admire! He also grew up in the States, thus, his conduct and way of behaving is something I can relate more to.
>>>>>>Performances highlights and my favorite (not in order)<<<<<<
1) General audience enjoyment
1.1 笨小孩 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVgJoFFRFT8&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=57
Though this performance has no special techniques or any X-part, it is one with all the brothers - when Terry Lin's voice comes right at the tail end of rapper parts, that's quite X on its own.
1.2 Yellow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aT3fEqTYMY&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=33
Very deserving of 1st place during the 1st team competition indeed. This is how a cohesive band comes together and shows you what a great team stage performance means. It's also one of the few (if not only) English songs in this competition and I like that it's performed by this group. Nathan is a great leader - he cares for each team member and he knows his stuff. He has great judgment and has conviction to follow it. Call Me by Fire is definitely a great springboard for Nathan's career after being a full time house husband for awhile.
1.3 花祭 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv4QqK0l07k&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=20
I especially like Paul's Cantonese version. You can hear the feeling in his voice. Welly and Nathan have already established themselves in the heart of audience by the time of this performance.
2) Great dance performances
2.1 MMA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mQVOn8CgRI&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=28
2.2 跳舞街 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-9Qyit3r-A&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=8 and
2.3 好春光 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pnrRxhACAc&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=14 and
Led by Max Zhang, I love this team’s dance performances the most. They may not have the best vocal, but they have a team leader with good judgment and taste when it comes to movement.
3) Songs performed with great technical capabilities
3.1 悟空 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hFJTVk5sMw&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=26
I am surprised that I am able to enjoy an opera-like performance. If Yellow hadn't already prove that, Wukong is then the performance that made Welly (and actually Henry as well) really shined through this song - all his decades of hardwork and practices, leading him to that moment. Each of them, Welly, Pax and Henry, represented Wukong in different stages of his life in this performance. If Henry's scandal didn't come out at this time, I believe he will be one of the brothers who will get a lot of attention for his talent.
3.2 飞云之下 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpNlCUgabpc&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=25
Terry is not a team player, but he is definitely one of the best, if not the best, vocalists. He is very passionate and enthusiastic about creating the best art. He sees music as a way of expression and storytelling. He also has the technical capability to project his voice the way he wants it, honed by years of his obsessive-like discipline. The combination with Hotdog rap and Cannon's 和音 support in this song, it is indeed a performance that only this team can do.
4) Songs with stories, imaginaries and feels
4.1 往事只能回味 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y93m7f4hP6k&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=24
4.2 當年情 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbJ2a6Jq8Og&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=1
4.3 你要如何 我们就如何 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDmMD16Je2A&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=21
Jordan's group's greatest strength is their decade-long friendship among members and supportive fan base. I feel that this is a group of brothers know where their strengths are and what their fans expect from them. They are not here to specifically challenge themselves out of their comfort zone (not that they don't have to work hard or the performances are within their comfort zone). More than anything, I find most of these HK artists are practical doers. They are here to enjoy and perform, as friends and as a team. The addition of 2 rappers add some interesting dynamism for this group.
The third one on the list is also the performance where it showed rappers can sing too. Coupled with the visuals on stage, this performance created a lot of 画面感 (imaginary) and invoked a lot of feels. It's the feels of surrendering to fate, yet still maintaining the hope that tomorrow will be better, that there's something to look forward to. Love it!
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Far from perfect and yet more than enough
I sometimes feel like I have mastered the art of being pretentious. I love media analysis, I love picking stories apart and being overly critical and I love finding long, overly-complicated ways to describe why something is supposedly objectively good or bad. But every now and then I come across a piece of media that I just love beyond rationality. That I like more than I feel like I should be technically allowed to. Sometimes, a story can just speak to us, even if it’s objectively flawed.Well, Upcoming Summer is that film for me.
I didn’t expect much of this film. Until now, no Chinese drama or movie had won me over. I was under the wrong impression, even though I had branched out since discovering K-dramas and had, since then found several Thai, Taiwanese, Pinoy and Japanese shows that I loved, that Chinese cinema simply wasn’t for me. But the trailer of Upcoming summer looked charming enough, that I was willing o give it a chance.
And I’m so happy I did.
There are a few things about this movie that I just find objectively good. For starters, the acting is really strong. Most actors in the C-dramas I had watched in the past, were guilty of over-acting and even though I can get the occasional joy out of watching an actor go way-overboard, it still makes me cringe. But I felt like all the performances here, were more than solid. Noone did too much or too little, the people in Upcoming Summer really just felt like people. The male lead had so much charisma, that even I blushed on several occasion. But I especially lost my heart to our female protagonist, who was childish and strong-willed but in no way frustrating or irritating to watch She really captured that stubbornness that comes with being a young adult without being just a tiny bit unlikable. The chemistry of the two lead actors was absolutely off the charts. All of their interactions felt natural and I couldn’t stop smiling, every single time they were on screen together. But the bond between mother and daughter also stood out to me. What can I say, I just bought all of this. Not one second was I taken out of the story. I believed in the characters, believed in their dreams, hardships and relationships and I sincerely loved them and wanted the best for them.
But the strong performances can also be traced back to the script and especially the dialogue. When I saw the “Fake Dating”-tag on this film, before watching it, I cringed. I know many people love the whole “two characters pretending to go out until they fall in love”-thing, I usually just prefer more maturity in my coming-of-age-stories and the trope is just a tad too Wattpad-fanfiction-y for me. I thought that I was in for another cliché love story with a contrived premise. But this film is everything but. For starters, Upcoming Summer is in no way a romance-movie, it’s a story about friendship and most of all, a story about growing up. And surprisingly enough, I thought Upcoming Summer explored that topic in a strikingly mature and again, very believable way. The dialogue felt deep and poignant but never preachy or unnatural. At no point did it feel like the author was directly talking to the audience. Instead, everything that was said, felt like the natural conclusions to the circumstances our cast was put in. We watched our characters grow as they faced the struggles of adolescence. The film didn’t need to go over the top, didn’t need dark, overly complicated backstories or villains, the pain of your first love, the pain of growing up, was more enough for this to feel impactful.
The cinematography also was great. God is this movie visually stimulating. I wondered at some points if Upcoming Summer wasn’t doing a bit too much, if it wasn’t just a tad too shiny, too grand, if it was just beautiful for the sake of being beautiful, but in the end, it just worked for me. Not a single shot felt flat, every composition conveyed emotion and it was more than easy on the eyes, I really liked the way this was cut as well. I liked all the montages, none of them felt overly long or like a waste of time and the scene at the music festival especially stood out to me in terms of cutting.
The OST is my least favorite part about this film, but I mostly didn’t mind it. I get that they obviously had to include electronic music since that’s part of the premise and some tracks I did sincerely like, but The Chainsmokers just always sound hollow and commercial to me, no matter where they are. This might be a matter of personal preference though.
I can imagine that the ending is a bit controversial. For me, it came too soon, but I could probably watch Chen Chen and Zheng Yu Xing just hanging out and having fun forever. Still, Upcoming Summer left too many threads untied for my taste. For me, the last 10 minutes definitely came out of left field. But I am not mad at the conclusions this story arrives at, even if they broke my heart a bit.
If I had one tiny bit of criticism: The TikTok product placement got a bit too much for me. I get it, sometimes you gotta do these things to fund your film. Still, that was like the only thing that kind of irritated me because it was just so obviously paid for. But as I said, I understand that sometimes as a filmmaker you don’t have much of a choice in this.
The teacher and her meddling in the leads’ relationship were also just a tad too much for me to feel entirely natural. That being said, I’m a white girl that went to a European school, I have no idea how involved Chinese teachers really are and if they would ever behave similarly, so maybe this comes down to cultural differences.
I sincerely love this film. It touched my heart in a way I didn’t see coming. But I am also scared that someone might watch this based on my recommendation only to realize, that it wasn’t nearly as good as I made it out to be. I know it isn’t, okay. In no way is Upcoming Summer groundbreaking or a perfect piece of media. But weirdly enough, this still was the YA movie of the year to me. For two hours I shed my overly-critical persona and just allowed myself to be touched by what I saw. I felt the pain of our protagonist as she, for the first time, discovers that not all love-stories have a happy ending, but that in no way diminishes their significance, that love is more than just romance, that our parents are also just humans. That growing up is the scariest challenge we face in life. Maybe art is less about what the creator puts into it, and more about what the audience gets out of it. I guess some stories just stay with us, no matter how objectively good or bad they are.
Upcoming Summer certainly will.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's good but it is also overhyped
Started this drama because of the good ratings it had here but, unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.The acting is great and it feels very natural, specially Steven Zhang, for me this was his best perfomance so far and his character was my favorite. The family plot was what I loved the most about this drama, the implication that you didn't need to be linked by blood to have such love for one another was very well portrayed and I loved the dynamic between the "siblings" and the fathers. On a less positive note, had A LOT more expectations for the couple, most of the time their relashionship didn't feel natural at all but rather forced, specially when Ling Xiao did that speach about his mental health, implying that his only solution or remedy was JianJian, that wasn't healthy at all. When it comes to the episodes, I don't think that many were needed, the story was just dragged. If they wanted to make that many episodes they should have developed some characters a little (a lot) more. In the end, I feel like the ending wasn't satisfying enough.
It is still a good drama if you like the family plot and some dose of confort but it's not a 10/10 for me.
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Fun time
I'm giving it a 8.5, not because the writing or direction was exceptional. Its actually far from that, the writing has a lot of weaknesses and the post-production is very rushed.The reason I am rating this drama so high is because the setting and plot is very unique and extremely exciting. This drama is a fully immersive experience in a futuristic world. It had me thinking about the implications of augmented reality on society and people, what if we're really all just in a game, how this could be our future in the near future and more. Overall, I really love how immersed I was into their world.
Romance is extra cute, adorable and mushy. Nothing more to say, watch it to find out.
Its a matter of time before the people who love isekai, transmigration and AR find this drama. Its really a hidden gem, if you like letting your mind drift into another world, this drama is for you,
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Best cdrama of to end 2021 and start 2022
Sword Snow Stride is one of the very few dramas that have all of what I usually look for in dramas - a revenge plot with smart schemes, brotherhood and family bonds, light comedy, great fighting scenes, and cunning characters. I like the build up per episodes in this drama. Even though it was a little bit slow at times, but the anticipation and the not knowing what might happen next, really kept me interested and fully invested in every scene. I've seen some people said it but I'll say it again, for fans of Nirvana in Fire and Joy of Life, Sword Snow Stride is a must-watch. You won't regret it.Was this review helpful to you?
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Clustershit Teledrama
Man... this is such a train wreck of a drama. It's soo bad, but at the same time, I can't stop clicking the next episode. This is the type of shit that my parents and grandparents would love, the story and writing is your very typical television drama.Like the ML and FLs relationship is sooo toxic. They kept breaking up and then making up again... if not, the FL would keep bouncing back from ML to 2nd ML. I have friends in real life who had relationships like this and I just can't stand it. It's sooo annoying and toxic, like just make up your mind already and break up, don't keep coming back, but in this drama, it's so bad that it's funny. It's like you're watching this car crash that you know it's gonna be bad, but you just can't close your eyes. After the car crashed it kept tumbling over and over, and if you think it's gonna land on its own 4 wheels perfectly, it still managed to roll over and exploded in the end.
As a comedy, this is really good, because it made me laugh so hard many times, but it failed in the romance aspect. Well, not that it's not good, there are times when I find it really sweet and cute when it's just focused on the romance, but then they've added the family drama and business politics and that's when I find it really boring.
The only thing that the family drama did bring something good to this series is when they added the Fiancee or Marriage part, that's where the series for me started becoming really good, and it's really funny because the moment the fiancee got introduced, the writing became really good and the characters were well fleshed out, even the interactions and dialogues were really good. I think it turned into a Romance-Drama instead of a Romance-Comedy. They've built up the fiancee well that it made me root for her instead of the FL, I think i almost cried when they gave Mingsi and Xiaozi a closure and after that, the series returned to being a train wreck of a rom-com.
What is actually going on in that family drama?? I don't know if it's really bad or they've just written it to be toxic. There were some good points in that aspect, but there are some parts where it's really exaggerated. I think the one thing that really put me in such disbelief was when Shancai and mingsi were doing a challenge like 'We didn't eat for days to convince my mom', that was such a cap for me. I think Mingsi was on the fortunate side because he was lying in bed so at least he could sleep, but Shancai... she was just standing outside for days, did not eat or sleep, that I cannot believe, I doubt you'd be able to do that in real life, especially without sleeping?!?!?! you got to be kidding me.
In the earlier parts of the show, there are also some side plots that I think are just fillers to stretch out the runtime, especially where shancai got kidnapped, like what on earth was that, I think you could actually remove the part from the show or maybe even skip it, cuz that did not do anything in the later parts. There are a select few where it actually contributed something in the later parts, like caina, I think her and meizuo's romance was really interesting, it really helped meizuo's character development, though it was also annoying at times when caina couldn't make up her mind and kept making ye come back to his house, i think the dude is too forceful of a character, it's creeping me out.
One thing that i was really annoyed with in this drama is, why they kept using those western songs?!?!?! Especially the 'River' song i don't know what that sound designer was smoking or whoever is in charge in that department, but seriously??? you kept putting that song in scenes where it shouldn't be.. who knows maybe the director is a fan of that song.
Also, in this drama, they are sooo shameless at doing product placements. They put it and the characters would use it and would do an ad read as if they are actually doing an ad. At least in kdramas when they do a product placement, it is just there and they wouldn't highlight it, if you notice it and you think you wanna buy it, then good. For how expensive to pull off this drama was, considering you have rich characters, i think it's understandable that the people behind this drama were a suck-up to the sponsors, that's why they were really highlighting those products.
And then in the later parts, i got super bored, because they had to resolve the issue with the mother, and my god... i can watch dramas at 1.5 speed when i'm not invested, but this drama made me surpass my limit and taught me that you CAN watch a drama at 2X speed if you put your mind to it. This was a good training arc for my reading speed skills and brain processing skills, which i can thank in this drama because i came out leveled up.
I don't know what was i expecting in this drama. Maybe it's because it is a remake of the old classic meteor garden that i've watched as a toddler. Regardless, i think if you like the old clustershit stories that you see on old TV back in the day, i think you would like this, but not for me. I had a rollercoaster of a ride and now my brain has rotted for how dumb-fun this drama was.
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We can never fully understand another person but trying is what makes us human.
A high school couple, Sakura and Aoba, shared an interest in music. One day, he breaks up with her without explanation. Years later, Aoba spots Sakura, she approaches him and gets really surprised by his loss of hearing. So she starts learning sign language in an effort to understand him and their past.What a poignant and gentle slice-of-life story with a lot of attention to detail, giving it a very personal feel. The story has a very important message regarding the isolation in communication, or the feeling of being alone when you're together in a group but can't really say your thoughts. I resonate very much on this issue because it happens to me at times too.
Different than what I'm used to experience in other dramas, they only put subtitle when they’re communicating with sign language, so we don't hear their inner monologues... and I like it this way; It helps me to really pay attention and connecting with the characters. Their interactions are beautifully portrayed by the actors, with a not-frustrating love triangle. Yes, there's a love triangle but they're all very decent and respectful people. They're all just trying to be understood and connecting in their own ways. While many episodes are shrouded with sadness and slight angst, in my opinion it has an appropriate and heartfelt ending.
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This review may contain spoilers
"The one who was laughing at me... the one who thought I was embarrassing... was me after all."
Firstly, some thoughts from my initial viewing. "Shino-chan wa jibun no namae ga ienai" is a film that stings with how relatable it is; not just to those who've suffered speech impediments, but to all those who are insecure and lack a place in the world. The pain of rejection, casual cruelties, and frustration at oneself isn't soothed by tactless words of encouragement, nor is it truly defeated by the kindness and empathy of others. Shino runs and runs away, whether it is on her two feet or by fruitlessly attempting to circumvent her stuttering. Even when Kayo chases after her and Tsuyoshi attempts to make remands for his teasing, she deflects their understanding behaviours. Alone and having realised that Kayo's faith towards her has never wavered even as the latter was abandoned, Shino discovers the key to 'say[ing] her own name'- expressing herself to the world. Or rather, that the lock which prevented her inability to express herself didn't just exist within her mouth, but also her mind; through her own perceived inadequacy and dare I say, self-loathing. An idiom comes to mind; "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". Perhaps it should be reworded for this context; "You can give a student a stage to stand on but you can't coax the words out of her mouth."Then, some pros and cons.
Pros
-Quite a lot is left to be inferred by the viewer; for example, why Shino avoids Tsuyoshi even after he amended for his crude behaviour AND she gave the green-light for him to join Shinokayo. Why Shino seems to suddenly demolish the progress she had made in the first half of the film and regresses into her antisocial shell once more. Why what appears to be a feel-good film has a slightly heartbreaking conclusion.
-Realistic characters; everyone presumably has at least one of them in their lives. The attention-seeking clown, the one who is sullen yet secretly kind, the well-meaning parent and teacher who are defeated by their lack of empathy, the one who is mocked and pushed down for a flaw that they were born with. Touchingly, the main trio are all connected by their insecurities and their desire to belong.
-Appropriately bittersweet (but ambiguous) ending. Adachi Shin didn't give viewers what they wanted; to see Shino and Kayo perform together again (possibly with Tsuyoshi on his tambourine). And sadly, that's how friendships often turn out. Ties that are severed won't repair at an instant, let alone at all. Kayo never got to see Shinokayo fully materialise, Tsuyoshi couldn't even be "that one guy in the back" and Shino never acknowledged his apology. Even though the perfect worlds that the three characters envisaged were unattainable (the three are alone in the end and Shino's stutter hasn't vanished), steps have been made in the right direction. That's life, isn't it?
-Deliberately imperfect but endearing musical scenes. Shino's off-key yet joyous singing voice and Kayo's inaccurate yet determined guitar strumming seemed to meld so well together. This odd sense of harmony seems to be a metaphor for the necessity of friendship to draw out one's potential.
-Very fine acting and chemistry. Despite their young ages, the performers pulled their weight to deliver moving, layered performances. Makita Aju in particular was just amazing.
Cons
-May be a pro for some, but the film winds up moping for longer than is comfortable or necessary.
-(Also a pro) but how stuff is left for the viewer to infer. I watched this to unwind and ended up feeling more agitated by the end. Sometimes you just want a film that explains everything clearly to you. This ain't it, chief.
-The happiness and sadness in this film seem to alternate until the bittersweet ending. They could've been blended more thoroughly throughout the entire film.
A moving and realistic film overall.
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This was mediocre at most
?? I'm actually disappointed with how much I disliked this.This drama had nothing much to offer, in all honesty. The story seemed pretty interesting, especially coming from Japan which dominates the gaming industry. However, they went in a different direction where, in my opinion, there wasn't enough of a constant plot to link the entire drama. Don't get me wrong, there was an attempt, but somehow, there lacked consistency and coherence. There were a few other problems scattered throughout which just disintegrated after being solved 20 minutes later.
The characters...I didn't mind. I've seen a lot of comments praising the bromance, but I thought that also lacked, The entire drama only focused on games, and that's it. For the two ML's, it seemed their only conversations were about making a game/taking down a company. I would've much preferred it if we saw more casual conversations sprinkled throughout with the two of them and the FL as well. The FL was also ok, but I feel like she could've had more importance. Her only relevance was that she was in charge of the family company, but her previous work experience, for example, wasn't particularly helpful. In all honesty, they were forgetful characters. All of them.
There's nothing else to really talk about, to be honest. I did see a comment calling this drama camp, and I can see that. This didn't have a good production value by the looks of it. So yes, pretty disappointing, especially as a fan of Yamazaki Kento who has been looking forward to more dramas from him.
Oh, and of course I can't be completely negative in this review, so let's go over that this drama has contributed to my life in a positive way... it introduced me to Matsushita Kouhei who I had honestly not come across before, surprisingly. Yep.
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The story is interesting yet it could be better. The way Sakura makes her way into the School seems way too easy. I mean, we understood since the first episode that she's strong, but there is no interest if she's THAT strong. The fighting scene are mostly greatly done and interesting. However, some special effects looks totally unrealistic and you can sometimes totally see that the fist (or other body part) wasn't touched.
The acting is quite good. Salt (Shimazaki Haruka) can be a little bit disappointing at first. However I grow to like her more and more. My favorite was Antonio (Yamamoto Sayaka) who was really really cool. Magic (Kizaki Yuria) also made her episode really interesting! However I must say that I'm quite disappointed with Sakura (Miyawaki Sakura). She was almost always the same to me, and I wasn't that fond of her. I also liked that there were old members of the school having guest appearances.
To tell the truth, the music didn't affect me much. That mean it wasn't bad (at least), yet wasn't particularly good. I did like the opening theme through so I'll keep the rating for the music to 8. However, I must say that the sound effects can be pretty bad (the fist sounding like leather gloves, the card crushing sounding like glass crushing, ...).
I put the Rewatch Value to high because I might want to see a small part sometimes again and I'll still remember this drama. I'll be like "Oh that part was good, let's watch again!". However, I don't think I would watch it COMPLETELY again. Only small and short cuts.
Overall, it's an easy, fresh and no-fuss drama that I would highly recommend for people wanting to relax an evening or two. Even more because the drama is only made of 10 episodes of 20-25min! So if you feel like you don't want to play a 40min episode long because it's getting late, why not watch Majisuka Gakuen 4?
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With a different genre, this film immediately entered my watchlist since the teaser appeared a few months ago. So my expectations are also quite high for this film.
Even though in reality this film did not meet the expectations that I put at the beginning, still this film treats my longing for Thai horror.
In Indonesian:
Tor adalah salah satu aktor thailand favoritku semenjak ia berperan sebagai Phai dalam Hormones the Series. Melihat Tor dan Ice beradu akting dalam sebuah film adalah satu dari sekian banyak perpaduan aktor yang gw tunggu-tunggu. Terlebih melihat keduanya tidak lagi memakai atribut sekolah maupun kampus.
Dengan genre yang berbeda, film ini langsung masuk ke watchlistku sejak teasernya muncul beberapa bulan silam. Jadinya ekspektasi saya juga lumayan tinggi terhadap film ini.
Walaupun pada kenyataannya film ini tidak menemui ekspektasi yang saya taruh, akan tetapi film ini tetap mengobati rasa rinduku terhadap horror thailand.
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This review may contain spoilers
Abyss starring Ahn Hyo-Seop & Park Bo-Young: A wasted potential
The story starts with an ugly man named Cha Min, whose fiancee dumps him, he has a friend with whom he had a crush for the past twenty years but never got accepted, and the friend Go Suyeon gets murdered. Min gets revived by a marble called Abyss and later uses the marble on Suyeon, but the catch is that they both have different faces now.From the very start, I didn't like Cha Min's character and so of Suyeon, they added a serial killer subplot to the story but never really told us why, why was the Oh Yeong-Cheol killing everyone? Why did Seo-JI-Uk become his accomplice when he hated him so much?
There were too many plotholes, like how did the people around the real Mi-do react when they found out that she had plastic surgery but there was another woman who looked exactly like her? How did Suyeon (PBY) go to live her life when Go Suyeon was declared dead?
Killing Cha Min in the last episode was unnecessary, instead of that plot they could have concluded on Seo Ji-Uk, maybe giving Go Suyeona another face.
Would not recommend watching.
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