This review may contain spoilers
Traditional Chinese Melodrama
This is one of those traditional style Chinese melodramas with arranged marriage, family business power struggles, goons, revenge and true love. Sounds okay but honestly, I really wouldn't recommend this for anyone expecting a fresh modern drama. Not because this was from 2015 rather the feel of the drama is traditional maybe catering more to local taste, nothing wrong but international viewers might be bored or irritated. It was interesting that the story was about a Chinese woman from mainland marrying into a Chinese family rooted in Thailand. One of the film location was a mansion frequently used in Thai dramas but they only used the exterior part- I think almost all the indoor scenes were filmed in China so this was a bit amusing for me. The "mystery" and "whodunit" arc kept me watching so there is some substance to the story. The writing was okay for the most part. I think the cast did a very good job in their roles. My favorite character was the ML, he was unwavering with his love and trust for the FL so I was rooting for him the entire time. I just wished he had a nicer hairstyle.SPOILERS:
- the ML in the drama starts out not the main love interest- he likes her but she has an intense romantic relationship with someone else for maybe 2/3 of the drama. It's almost like you wouldn't expect them to be together. It is rare in dramas when you are having SML syndrome then your wish is granted when SML turns out to be the ML :)
- the ending is a big disappointment, quite rushed as mysteries were answered and villains punished towards very end plus there was no concrete happy ending, only a hint that the all is well almost like an open-ending. It felt like the ending scene was abruptly cut.
OVERALL:
Watch if you don't mind traditional Chinese melodrama otherwise this is a skip.
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This review may contain spoilers
Congratulations to this drama for getting my lowest score yet.
The MVP of this series was really Netflix for letting me watch at 1.5x speed and the ten second fast forward feature for which this low review would not exist in the universe.It’s really a pity that the first eightish - nine episodes get completely squandered by the absolute Chernobyl disaster that is the second half of this show. The FL is a mid thirties almost forty year old human who possess ZERO communication skills. It’s really impressive how little communication skills one human woman can posses. I commend the writers for showing that forty year women can also have the same emotional maturity as a sixteen year old girl. Representation matters!
The other watchers of this show seemed to love the Male Lead for being the best boyfriend but if being a good boyfriend = being a complete doormat and running after your girlfriend whose idea of communication is crying, saying she’s sorry and promising never to do it again but then in the literal next scene doing it again *surprise pikachu face* and then whining about how she’s apologized. Her character reaches a point where it's not that she's unable to communicate, she willfully refuses and believes the best way to get ahead is to sit in misery and grind through but also to ask him to do the same. The way to progress forward is for them to simply be in abject misery together.
Let’s talk about the mother of the bride - the worst Asian mother portrayal I’ve seen on tv. If the FL wasn’t also such a doormat, she could have moved out before the season started and I wouldn’t have to watch this character for 12 hours. I have a new nemesis and it’s this Asian mother. She has NO redeemable qualities and yet the writers still put in a redemption scene in the last hour. I’ve never felt less moved by a mother-daughter scene in my entire life. It happens on the street and I was looking for truck-kan the entire time (why don’t you show up when I want you and only when I don’t???). I tried, I tried to look at this in an Asian centric culture mindset but alas I’m a lowly Asian-American and even with my knowledge of traditional Asian family roles, I cannot feel warmth/sympathy towards this mother.
The music: If an English lady crones “it’s hard to be a woman” at me one more time, I’ll end up in jail.
My final gripe: the plot. Writer-Nim. Come back here and explain to me wtf was the POINT of the last three episodes. Just really explain. There’s this whole plot about how she’s going to stick with it and make her big comeback and stand on her own - - for her to get another bf who doesn’t appreciate her, to learn zero communication skills and to STILL quit her job and become a waitress on juju island! Why did they even break up? They learn zero things from the breakup! Here I would like to compare my favorite end of drama breakup “Because this is my first life” where the breakup makes sense. It forces two characters who cannot communicate and have baggage to take the breakup as a reset and reevaluate their needs and goals before coming back together as a stronger and more cohesive couple. That does not happen in SITR. They still cannot communicate, or say full sentences or express emotion.
She just takes the time she could use to communicate to whine about how she’s kept herself miserable for three years to atone for making the best friend/boyfriend sad. Like my girl, no one, not ONE person asked for that. If you choose to live your life that way, that’s strictly a you problem. This whole romance exist on *vibes*. Which I mean I love a long walk in the rain and some coffee but my god.
Anyways there was great skinship in this show so cheers to the director for giving me legit butterflies in the handholding scene. I will look back at drama edits on tiktok of that one scene fondly.
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Best Best Best Chinese drama
I knew this drama is a little bit depressive. But the cimematography and background music are absolutely stunning! I can rewatch this drama again and again. The storyline is too intense. If the screenwriter add more light heart scenes, this drama would be perfect. Anyway, I still think that this drama is phenomenal! The actings of ALL actors are great. The scene when crown prince was with Lu Wenxi, I can feel their sexual tension trough the screen :) Love the emperor. I mean his acting was so great that I felt like I want to punch him most of the times LOL. For me, this drama is my most favourite chinese drama of all times.Was this review helpful to you?
The acting was good, the camera work was really nice too. A the time loop easy too follow.
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Keibuho Sugiyama Shintaro ~ Kichijoji-sho Jiken File
5 people found this review helpful
The story is absolutely heart wrenching, sad, upsetting, thoughtful, unique, ingenious, kind, silly, happy, and filled with a lot of genuine honesty from a family, from friends, and from coworkers that you don't really see a lot of from this genre/type of drama. To be honest, I was a little hesitant in watching (even if Kaname Jun is acting as a main character) this series because it seemed more of a comedic take on family life while being a detective. But, once I started watching the first episode, I realized that I was wrong. This show sincerely and seriously takes on the aspect of being a working detective and head of the house hold; it shows, in true honesty, just how hard balancing two jobs (detective and father/husband) can really be. So, to me, this show is very much true to life.
Each actor played their character with respect, honesty, kindness, and sincerity; and I'm not saying you don't see that anymore, but even down to the child actors I felt that their skill and talent was close to perfect for each story and case that arrived. I'm very glad that I decided to watch this show and I definitely hope a lot more people give this drama series a chance!
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I like the idea of this plot, how they can think about all around train and every scene will leave your heart drop, and feel mixed feelings. Sometimes I cry, shout, scream and anything.
The actors gave their best to movie. But I feel Gong Yoo sometimes being lost at his act being father, yeah but it doesn't mean he's bad, he's okay. On the other hand, I want to give my salute to Ma Dong Seok (my hero!), Choi Woo Sik (YA!! you're my first reason to watch this movie), and Jung Yu Mi (mom I cried everytime your scene appeared, my heart feel like breaking) but overall, these actors are great.
Since I hate thriller horror movie, I'll never watch it again but I recommend it to watch; 100%!!
Oh and looking forward to Train to Busan sequel because there are so many unsolved things yea lets just go straight!
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Story (10.0): An amazing storyline! Didn't have me hooked from the get go, but it did soon enough. I have a problem where I can love a drama and still lose interest in continuing, or I see some negative comment on the next episode and I'm like meh I'll watch this later, let's go find a new drama. Or I even have to read recaps to get through a drama... Healer was nothing like that. Seriously. There was one point when secrets are being revealed that I saw a comment on the next episode saying how distrusting Ji Ahn was of her friends... Let me tell you, that almost had me wait for a whole minute to watch the next episode! But in the end I completely disagreed with the negative comment anyway. What I love about Ji Ahn was that she trusted her friends even when things didn't look good and evidence pointed the wrong way. She had her weaknesses but she was also a strong female character. And Jung Hoo can DEFINITELY hold his own. Plenty of squeal worthy fighting and pseudo-parkour to please anyone. Sometimes when I watch dramas even if I enjoy some melodrama, there is a point where miscommunication and the like can get extremely annoying and cause me to drop the drama. There were one or two points where I felt something coming in this storyline along those lines, but I was surprised both times by the resolutions that just made me love the characters more. If anyone has any qualms about the 20 episodes vs. 16, there was not even a single sign of dragging to make this drama the full 20 episodes. In fact, at the end I was hoping for a little more time to cool off and see the characters in their finally peaceful lives!
Acting/Cast (10.0): I loved all the characters in this drama and they were all played by very good actors/actresses! If I have any complaint here, it's that I couldn't stop seeing the nervous Emperor Huizong whenever Ji Chang Wook was playing Park Bong Soo... I even half expected the dramatic deathly hand drop at one scene where Oh Ji Ahn is holding his head in her lap... :D Of course this doesn't detract at all because Ji Chang Wook is such a good actor anyway. Even the children actors were amazing and small boy Jung Hoo had me crying when he was eating that potato... Ahh, the feels. The best part was that Ji Chang Wook and Park Min Young are really good together as a couple; definitely not the best, I have at least two other couples that surpassed this one, but it is probably a top 5, maybe 3, of my favorite drama couples. (Even if my mind keeps throwing Empress Ki in the mix).
Music (8.5): Pretty good music, but it took me a few episodes to really feel it... Don't get me wrong, the music fits with the drama, but it didn't quite resonate with me from the start. However, the lyrics to that one ending song are really good even if I didn't originally appreciate the style of the song. Rewatch Value (10.0): I don't rewatch many things unless I really really really enjoy them, and this is definitely a drama I could see myself rewatching very soon! In fact I may just force some family members to sit down and watch it with me....
Overall (10.0): My first 10.0. Yes, no drama is completely perfect, but I was logically able to reason away any flaws I saw and I really wanted to give my first real 10 to a drama, so yeah I rounded this up. And if you think I'm being hesitant, Healer definitely earned every single one of these stars. There are some dramas I've rated slightly lower which I might be more inclined to rewatch because they personally resonated more with me even though I was able to find more flaws, but this is currently in my top 3 dramas, if not inhabiting first place.
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This review may contain spoilers
WTF Did I just watch?
The synopsis definitely does not match what I just watched. The tags don't even match. I was expecting some slice of life or even friendship stuff, but I got that mixed in with some random sci-fi and now I'm all confused.Shouldn't have even wasted my time watching this.
STORY:
Saimon is in love with his best friend Takashi. As seniors in high school, both Saimon and Takashi are concerned about their future. Saimon is set to go to collge, while Takashi is going to take over his father's business. Takashi feels like it's the end of the road for him since he has no luck in women. He confesses to the only girl in his grade and his shut down. He then finds a women's number in the bathroom stall. Desperate, he decides to call it and meet her. Saimon isn't a fan of his idea, but goes with Takashi on his journey to meet this woman.
On their trip, Saimon and Takashi meet a biker, who no longer rides a motorcycle and has taken up cycling. The biker's girlfriend is suddenly abducted by and alien UFO. Meanwhile Saimon and Takashi meet the woman. Takashi has a nose bleed, so the woman cares for him, while Saimon sulks outside. On the verge of tears, Saimon meets the biker again, who tells him to man up. Saimon returns save Takashi from the woman, but Takashi is beaten up by the woman's other suitors. Taka shi is desperate to save the woman, but Saimon confesses his love to Takashi and says he won't help find her, leaving Takashi to save the woman himself. Once again, Saimon encounters the biker, who takes Saimon to save his girlfriend and Takashi.
Takashi, the biker, and Saimon arrive just in time to save the woman from being abducted by the UFO, but that's where we learn the alien in the UFO is the woman's ex-boyfriend who cheated on her with another woman. He is back to win her back.
The film ends with the woman getting back with her alien man, the biker getting his girlfriend back from the alien, and Saimon and Takashi heading home. Saimon says he's given up on Takashi, but Takashi says he still likes women but until he can find a girlfriend that Saimon should help him out.
The film was good until the whole UFO/alien storyline began. Yes there was a lot of sexual innuendos, but the whole plot revolves around Takashi trying to get laid, so that's no problem. The big problem is the sci-fi aspects, it's just so random and doesn't fit with the tone of the film. The film was very slice of life until the biker's girlfriend is kidnapped by the UFO.... Also, why was she kidnapped? I don't get it. It was so random and out of nowhere.
This film is so confusing. I guess it has a plot, but the slice of life aspect and the sci-fi don't match. It's really strange.
Also, I don't get the ending. Saimon threw his drink to Takashi, who disappears and a animated humanoid bird thing with a lizard's tail appears... WTF? I can come to terms with the weird UFO aspect to the movie, but the ending really upset me. Let Saimon and Takashi have their friendship ending or have them hook up. Don't confuse us with that weird creature. What happened to Takashi? I'm so confused.
OVERALL:
I'm half-Japanese, so I understood what I was watching, but I was still confused. Don't even bother watching unless you like weird sci-fi movies like Sharknado. The film is definitely not what the synopsis says and isn't worth your time. The film is starting to turn into a lost media and it should stay that way.
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The acting was done really well, no complaints at all. It was nice seeing Yamapi in a different role. Kitagawa Keiko I've recently seen in Paradise Kiss and her character here is different and she did a good job in her role. The rest of the cast was great as well!
The music was good! I loved the main song, "Ichibu to Zenbu" by B'z, I still listen to it a lot. Also the instrumentals were nice and there was also some classical music.
I can see myself rewatching this series someday, not any time soon, but someday.
Overall I think this drama deserved all the awards it got. It was well acted and the story was really good and enjoyable. There were a few characters that got annoying, but most dramas have those. In the end you find yourself cheering on the main leads. Also the friends were really great as well!
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The major highlight of the series is Liu Nuan Nuan, the female lead. She isn't a typical "dumb naive" character. Instead, she has her own personal growth journey. She faces several obstacles but is able to overcome them not only with the help of male lead Han Che but also by her own strength which is admirable. The actress does a terrific job in portraying this character, and is very similar to Fair Xing. She brings so much life and joy to it, it makes you glued to the screen. I've seen a lot comment on the "stiff/woody" acting of Connor Leong as Han Che, but I disagree. His character in the first place is stoic so it makes sense why he simply adjusted to that. Although I do admit, at first, his acting genuinely seems underwhelming and stiff, as the drama goes on, you see that it's all part of the character's development. Slowly, the cold Han Che becomes more warm and expressive as he falls deeper in love with Nuan Nuan. The only problem with his character is that the story doesn't allow us to know his character the way we know Nuan Nuan. Her development is so much more fleshed out and it would've been nice for Han Che to get the same treatment. Overall, Connor is a great actor, and I recommend his dramas Another Me and Project 17: Side by Side. Eleanor Lee is fantastic as well, and I recommend her dramas the Big Boss and Fake Princess.
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Problematic
This is the first (I think) and worst mental-illness/psychiatrists focused drama! It's common for the patient to crush over their psychiatrist and fall in love, because they are mentally unstable and vulnerable, but once the roles are flipped and the psychiatrist is the one imposing their feelings on the patient then there's a big problem at hand.The first obvious problem is for a psychiatrist to fall in love with his patient. It would probably be less of a problem for a doctor in another field but not a psychiatrist, a professional dealing with mentally vulnerable people. With all that being said, I could easily turn a blind eye to the whole ordeal if the drama was comedic/light/romance and never took the serious and professional route, of which this drama tried so hard to go for. The second big problem, there was a blatant attempt to stir the narrative in that direction while disregarding any coherency at the same time. We can clearly see an example of that right from the beginning in episode 1 with everything happened with the cop incident.
This drama had nothing to offer other than a pretty cast. Anyway, they failed miserably in handling the concept and ended up producing a very poor product. A disgrace to real professional psychiatrists!
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Not my cup of tea!!
Okay so contrary of popular opinion, personally I did not like the drama. I watched it after falling into your smile because of the same gaming - romance genre but I was disappointed.Story wise it lacked character development on the male lead's side. Like at one point it kinda became frustrating. The gaming sequence was also tad bit boring and tbh I just skipped most part.
The main problem for me here was chemistry between leads was just too forgettable and forced for me.
The OST was nice though.
Honestly this wasn't my cup of tea but again I would understand if anyone else loved it. :))
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STORYLINE: 6.5/10 – CHARACTERS: 5/10
She finds out about her diagnosis in the first episode so at this point I was questioning how interesting they were going to make to stretch 12 episodes because at this point I felt like I had watched the whole gist of the drama’s plot. The challenge to push on and not drop it was on before I even got midway the series. However more and more predictability and disappointment followed.
For instance, the unrealistic quick development of the relationship between Masaki and Keigo. Like seriously, who gets to meet their famous idol and immediately becomes the type of acquaintance with them that can just pick up the phone to chat or arrange meetings - unless they want to assume it is due to Keigo’s new fond belief in the beauty of being alive or sympathy for Masaki which totally failed. They even had me waste almost a whole two minutes watching her run (the only thing that made it bearable was the piano). Watching on I felt myself more attached to the supporting characters’ storylines such as Masaki’s mother and Isamu’s quirkiness and protective manner.
I must seem very heartless that her crying every episode had me telling her to man up by providing a life changing reason or threatening reason to why she choice this path. Truly this drama lacked the realism of capturing the struggles a person may decide to become a prostitute because the reason for her selling herself forever surfaced whenever I started to feel some sympathy.
Things do pick up for Masaki after the three year forward. And these are the episodes I enjoyed the most and my rating of the drama jumped 2 places.
ACTING:
The main actors delivery differed so I believe it right to individually rate them. Kaneshiro Takeshi is give a 7.5/10 and Fukada Kyoko 5.5/10 which may be due to the character she potrayed. I just could not connect with Masaki as I did Keigo.
LIKED: i like the fact that the creators shown bravery by addressing the possible consequence of prostitution (unprotected sex) and value of life (health) at a time I assume the world was very much hush-hush unlike now.
DISLIKED: I disliked the series for the reason the choose for her prostitution.
CONCLUSION:
You should definitely watch this drama if you enjoy dramas with the genres such as MISUNDERSTANDING – SICKNESS – LIFE APPRECIATION – LOVE – MUSICIAN – CRYING – FAMILY – DEPRESSION – HOPE – HAPPINESS… And the following genres I believe I just missed out on feeling EMOTIONAL – SYMPATHY– JOY
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This review may contain spoilers
Representation Matters
Call It What You Want was an inspiring BL that draws attention to the behind-the-scenes world of Boy's Love. While it wasn't very long and there were only a handful of episodes, we as the audience were still able to see and understand the severity of sexual abuse/assault in the entertainment industry and the dire circumstances that actors are placed under in order to be the "perfect".Let's Dive In.
Now, once again, I forgot to actually focus on the music so I gave it its regular score of three stars cause I'm sure it was decent (and I'm too lazy to go back and listen). Production-wise it was alright. To me, it looked like they weren't given much of a budget, and at times it looked cheap. For example, the CGI in the car. Awful. Instead of paying attention to the conversations they were having, I was instead paying more close attention as to how bad it looked. Plot-wise, it was very hard to get into for the first three episodes, but after that, I started to really get into it. I had to push my way through the first half just because it was super slow and boring, but we actually get into the juicier parts in about episode 4.
Let move onto the characters. It took me a while to really enjoy James. The actor himself wasn't bad, but his character himself was very flat and not interesting. This is the first time (weirdly) that I've seen a Thai BL where the main character has long hair. At times I loved it, but at other times, it threw me off and he sometimes looked like a creep. Obviously, this part is just an opinion, but I wanted him to groom it better or to just cut it shorter. Ait to me came off super creepy in the beginning. The way he would stare at James was disturbing. Turns out they knew each other before then, but still his actions and words were way out of line. Closer to the end he got better, but I wished his character would've been more subtle about his feelings. Bas was by far the best character. At first, I wasn't sure what was going on with him. I thought that he was going to go through being closeted, but then I thought he was going to come out and say that he was suicidal, and then I thought that maybe he liked Ait and was jealous of James. A lot of things were leading up to these individual things, but when it came down to the real news, I was heartbroken. To hear him speaking to Ait about his situation killed me. I applaud the actor heavily on his portrayal of being a victim. We never really got to see Kaprao, played by the same actor from the 2 moons 2 franchise (Park). He was in it for like a few seconds on the last episode but that's it. It was mentioned plenty of times throughout the series, but I still would've liked to see him more.
I wasn't a huge fan of James and Ait. They felt really rushed, which is surprising seeing as they approached the question of why in BLs do they always fall in love so quickly, but it's hypocritical since they do the exact same thing (granted, more time probably passed by). They didn't really have many moments together, but for the later parts of the show, it got better. I'm more interested in the situation happening with Bas and Marco, and I'm excited to see what they do with that come season 2. I loved that Marco was there to listen to Bas and to also make him feel better. It was a nice touch on the creator's part to have most of episode 6 focus on Bas. I loved seeing his story.
This series called out on a lot of the bullshit that some BL series go through. From them forcing Bas to get botox done, to them making him eat just a little to no food, and even from them making both Ait and Bas not have access to their phones. It's sad to see that this is the reality for some actors. as well as being assaulted by the people in a higher power, and forced to do things that they weren't wanting to do. It was even sadder when you find out that this show was made after true events. I hear that it was particularly made after the 2 Moons 2 cast, but I'm not certain. If anything, this was made about something that actually happened, and I hope that whoever it was, they got justice.
Call It What You Want wasn't the best BL ever, but it did draw attention to some very important topics that I'm glad others are able to see and understand. Don't ship actors, let them have a love life outside of the show, and allow for them to be happy and do what they want. I recommend this watch to anyone willing to see the horrid stuff that goes on in BL.
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Light and Warm, and visually pleasing!
This is the type of drama we need to unwind after long, tired days. It’s light but not too light, and it warms your heart perfectly.The ML and FL’s visuals are so so so adorable. Their overflowing chemistry adds everything so perfect and makes it so hard to resist.
I know that the story like Sang Zhi and Duan JiaXu is too good to be true, but I love how realistic the interaction in Sang Zhi’s family is. First, between Sang Zhi and her brother, Sang Yan. Seems real just like bro-sis in real life.
Second, the moment Sang Zhi’s parents convey their concerns about Duan JiaXu directly to him. I mean, despite how good man that he is, it’s just what happens in life, parents will still be worried about their daughter’s potential unhappiness, no matter how small it is. But they’re also reasonable enough to finally put trust in their daughter’s choice and say that if anything, they got their daughter’s back no matter what.
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