Reviews

Amazing

I LOVED this one, incredible acting and storyline. there were no toxic second leads or any toxicity of that in general. a sweet slow burn romance, that didn’t feel dragged at all or rushed by the end. i also love how they focused on her work life and on the marriage of her best friend (i love how they solved all the issues they had between them, without having both the husband and wife ending up in a stereotypical marriage). overall and amazing 11/10 drama. i put the rewatch value that low, because i generally never rewatch anything i watch, no matter how it is, so please dont let this one put you off guard :)

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A friend of mine recently said that sometimes a drama can just creep up on you. Never has that been more true than with The Vineyard Man. I struggled so much trying to watch this drama, I dropped it twice without being able to get through the first episode. I honestly couldn't imagine that I would ever enjoy it, even as I was watching it. But as with Secret Garden, I am so glad I was willing to give this show a third chance.

This show is far from perfect, some episodes drag, and they definitely took their sweet time advancing the romantic story line. They spent way WAY too much time on the love triangle aspect of the show. As you get into the second half, it's like they just can't stop beating the dead horse as they tried too hard to extract every bit of drama and frustration that a love triangle can bring.

The characters were all pretty phenomenal, especially Jang Taek Gi. Seriously, he may have taken the spot as my number one drama hero fantasy boyfriend :p He was so incredibly sweet and caring, even if he could be dense at times. Lee Ji Hyun was so stinking irritating in the first 8 or 9 episodes, she is what made this drama so hard to get through! She was just a spoiled brat, and I hated listening to her whine. I know that that was the point, she is supposed to undergo a transformation, but she was just so unlikable in the beginning, it was grating. The secondary characters were a joy to watch, too. The villagers were all funny, I especially loved Taek Gi's best friend. His voice cracked me up. The only character I wasn't too fond of was the granduncle, which is weird because I have loved that actor in everything else I have seen him in.

I, of course, don't want to get too spoilery, but I will say the last episode was the best of the whole series, hands down. There wasn't too much romance by way of kissing or any other kind of PDA, but there was plenty of sweet scenes to keep you going :)

Bottom line, there are some things I would have changed, but all in all this was well worth the effort of slogging through the parts that dragged on. If you find yourself getting bored in the first few episodes, I would really recommend reading some recaps to get you through them. If you are looking for something fun, sweet, and pretty funny then this is what you are looking for! If you can make it through the boring, you will definitely be rewarded by the sweet and irresistible!

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When "Ten" started airing on OCN, it became a surprise hit. Despite it's late-night air time, the ratings were pretty high, considering it was on a cable channel. Even so, I wasn't all that excited to watch this drama. I used to have a *really* strong obsession with CSI, but at some point crime shows just got boring to me. It seemed like the same thing over and over again- team sees the murder scene, team solves the case, murderer is put behind bars. End of story. I was a little disappointed that "Ten" didn't really deviate from that plot, but it did provide a brilliant set-up for season 2.
Story: To be completely honest, "Ten" just seemed like it was exposition for something else. In fact, it was barely that. The story placed some focus on the team members, but paid more attention to it's case of the week. The team dynamic was interesting, but again not much emphasis was placed on it. The characters, however, were very interesting and layered, so I'm hoping the second season can focus more on them. There was an over-arching plot, but it was only hinted at this season.
Acting: The acting was really good, as far as I could tell. The characters were layered and complex, and the main cast pulled them off wonderfully.
Music: The music was gorgeous- especially Mad Soul Child's "Breath". The OST itself had a very dark vibe to it, which made it perfect for this drama.
Rewatch Value: Most of this drama's time was spent on solving the cases, and once you know who the murderer is, it's not much fun.
Overall: "Ten" was dark and gripping, but at the same time it felt like it was just paving the way for something bigger. I have high expectations for season 2, though.

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Short and Sweet and Totally Underrated

A perfect sweet romance to make you forget your woes and just smile for a couple of hours.

This may be the fastest drama I've binged, noting how I sat through it in 2 days without feeling overtaken by the drama.

The leads were so cute and I appreciated the maturity...After checking out the MDL rating I was fully prepared to experience annoying characters and plot holes but....wow. What a pleasant surprise! (NB to self...do not judge a drama by its ratings). Here's the thing about this drama, it is your typical high school/college rom-com with some familiar tropes - enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, ML-has-amnesia love-triangles first-love etc (and I will be quick to say that I sometimes crave just that...) yet, it was light and so well done, I just breezed through it in true delight. Did I say the lead couple was so cute? Plus, the slow-burn was just right - not dragged-out and exactly as long as it should have been.

OST - Beautiful

Also appreciated the second lead couple. Feifei played by Wen Mo Yan was just chef's-kiss BFF goals.

My only issue was with translation (as is with all c-dramas on Youtube)...where do I write a complaint to C-Drama translation teams and express how extremely annoying it is to read poorly-phrased error-ridden English because aaargh! I could correct the grammatical errors for free if someone gave me the job.

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Kano is courted by numerous other men but according to some viewers of the movie he only really loves Soji. I'm not sure exactly where that idea comes from except from possible pointers towards the end of the movie. But if true, this would be highly ironic, given that a point is made of Soji being fiercely antipathetic to same sex love. Earlier in the movie it is specifically stated Kano and Tashiro are an item. So why does he accept the command to kill him? This in turn is because the powers-that-be suspect Tashiro of committing murders from jealousy. But as the movie concludes it seems rather more likely that Soji may have been responsible due to his hatred of same sex love, in which case, if Kano loved Soji, it may make sense that he killed Tashiro to cover up for Soji who was actually the one he loved. Was Soji running back claiming he'd forgotten something really to get away to murder someone else - even perhaps Kano? It all gets really impenetrable. I suppose you can reach your own conclusions depending on which pieces of the jigsaw you select. The above is only predicated on the emphasis some comments have put on Soji and Kano's supposed love for him. But I'm not sure I accept that anyway. Still, it's a beautifully produced, atmospheric movie with an androgynous and beautiful lead. Alas youth is fated to be cut down for even the most beautiful like the cherry tree at the end of the film. I think that's a common metaphor in Japanese culture.

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First of all, the number one reason to watch Age of Youth is that it's the rare k-drama that's entirely female-driven and, on top of that, isn't driven by romance.

Of course, there are plenty of great k-dramas out there where women drive the plot; in those stories, though, the female protags usually share equal space with male leads. And there are a few gems I've come across that aren't about romance, but these examples are very much male-driven (Misaeng, SUFBB, White Christmas — all of these shows respect their women, but none of them are *about* the women).

Age of Youth, however, is an anomaly in revolving around a main female ensemble with all male characters being pushed down to supporting character rank (just check out the cast list here). This is in itself is a little bit momentous, and it's the kind of thing there should be more of.

Don't get me wrong, in general you can count on k-dramas for female characters with points-of-view. Still, the bulk of them follow the YA novel tradition of revolving around *one* girl, meaning that relationships between different women are rarely fleshed out (or at least, not as fleshed out as that of the female lead/male leads). Age of Youth, however, isn't about one girl. It's about five girls — five girls with their own inner lives, goals, and ghosts-in-the-closet (thanks to Jiwon for that unnecessarily dramatic metaphor). These stories might feature romantic subplots, but they're not the main event. The way these girls relate to one another is the real emotional core of the series.

Since I've sung my praise, for the sake of fairness I'll touch on a couple of the show's weaknesses.

Being such a short drama, AOY is definitely hurt by trying to do too much with a lack of time. The upshot is it suffers from the typical ensemble show problem of uneven character work. While some arcs are fully realised and flawlessly constructed (particularly, the growth of Hwayoung's character), a couple of others sadly fall to the wayside. (Han Seungyeon's character is the most egregious. If I didn't know there'll be a season two, I'd find the lack of time given for Ye Eun's post-traumatic arc absolutely unforgivable. Since there *will* be a season two, though, I aggressively expect this to be the #1 priority.)

My other gripe is about tonal inconsistency. Again with the trying to do too much, AOY teeters between realistic slice-of-life and... dark psychological thriller? Let it be said that it's much more successful at the former. Some of the darker story-lines work because they're *character-driven* (again, not sorry about Yina's narrative), but most of the show's dips into other genres are unfortunately half-baked. Considering that lack of time thing, AOY would have been more cohesive by cutting the excess.

THAT BEING SAID, these flaws stick out only because AOY is so quality in every other way. If you want a drama that actually cares about women's stories (and why wouldn't you), you arguably can't do better than Age of Youth.

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If you want to feel refreshed or look back on your precious memories, this one is for you

What I really love about this series is how it made me feel. It feels so refreshing, it's like the rest that you get after a stressful and tiring day. There might be some scenes or characters that I found kind of cringy but it was overall a good watch. Those "cringe" moments really take me back because it reminds me of how I was back then. The actors are really good too. Maoyi is really like a rabbit as her name in the series "Xiao Tu" suggests. Jun is a great actor too, I was really excited for this series as I get to see another side of him. This is also the first series to ever give me the second lead syndrome but I soon forgot about it because of Ling Chao's actions which are really endearing. This series screams home and comfort to me.

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Dumplings anyone?

The Name is a heartwarming and bittersweet love story built on longings and lies.

Ri Ae offers Cheol Woo a small fortune for him to create 20 paintings and let her sign her name to them for an art exhibit. Living in what amounts to an artistic coffin in the park, Cheol Woo ultimately, if not reluctantly, agrees to being a ghost painter. Of course, not all is what it seems with the two characters.

The Name's plot is quite simplistic, with well used tropes and twists that can be seen from a mile/km away. The characters have some growth, but little depth. Cheol Woo's supposedly ground breaking artistic style peaked quite awhile back in the real world, but I understand they needed art for the displays.

Romantic movies whether comedy or tragedy succeed or fail on the chemistry of the leads, something The Name succeeded with for the most part. Jeon So Min gave a nice but not overly wrought performance as a woman with a complicated relationship with her mother, who was dealing with her own health concerns, and living with unrealized dreams. Choi Jung Won gave a charming turn as the down on his luck but rarely down in his mood artist whose success was just always out of reach. The remaining cast give perfunctory if not inspired performances.

If you are looking for something new and innovative, this is not it, unless you haven't watched many dramas. If you are looking for a comfortable, familiar romance with two likable actors this is just the ticket.

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Intense Love Story and for me it hit the spot.

I watched Here to Heart on Netflix during COVID and I loved it. I was very fortunate to watch two Chinese dramas’ that hit the spot and I really fellj in love with. The first was Ashes of Love.

Here to Heart in my own opinion is such a beautiful love story. I felt it was not a cookie cutter story.
I loved the intense emotions between the leads. I could feel the love, anger, jealousy and other range of emotions between Zhan Nanxian and Wen Nuan. At the end of the day they only had eyes for each other.

They did a very good job with the flashbacks, to give us a great picture of their previous relationship.
I also liked his relationship with his turtle :).

I could understand Nanxian’s hurt, angry; at the same time not willing to let Nuan go. Bottling up his intense feeling's until he felt he might lose her (episode 29-30). It was really nice when the finally opened up to each other.

I really like Nuan, I appreciated her personality, I understand why she did not tell her why she broke up with him.

I like that fact that she was smart, beautiful and had self-respect. When Nuan felt Naxian was in a relation with Yixin and he did not really show interest in her she let go. I truly believe love is a gift you can't force it from a guy.

I loved the songs they were beautiful and, full of emotions.

I personally don’t like the idea of trashing the wedding. It would have been better if they had a real conversation before the wedding.

I personally like the novel’s ending better the dramas.

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30+ aged women who continue to MAKE WAVES!

I've watched a lot of competition shows especially Korean ones - Produce 101, Good Girl, Unpretty Rapstar, Queendom, etc but out of all of them, my favorite really has to be Sisters Who Make Waves S1. Perhaps because now I'm in my late 20s now, but I found the women super inspiring and strong - almost like watching your older sister. It was such a joy watching these incredible women grow, support each other, and achieve their dreams despite their age.

For me, I found this show particularly empowering because there is a notion in China that after 30 years of age and unmarried with no kids, you are considered 'left-over women'. This show takes the competition aspect from Korean girl group shows and adds a twist - only women over the age of 30 (actresses, singers, who are also moms, single, or even divorcees, etc) are invited to compete and work together to debut as a girl group. This show sends a powerful uplifting message that it's NEVER too late to achieve your dreams! Even in the final episode, they invited various women from different industries (an 80+ year old pilot, nurse, architect etc) to show just how accomplished women can be in different fields. The other aspect I loved was its emphasis on sisterhood and friendship. With other competition shows *looks at MNET*, they would try to edit certain scenes to create ~drama~ but here, you can FEEL the friendship that blossoms between the girls. What I also truly admire is that some of these actresses don't even have a trained dance/music background, yet with their blood, sweat, & tears, they were able to put on amazing shows. Not only that, there were a few girls who broke their wrist/ankle while practicing but still did their best to keep up and put on a good show, especially with their limited time to practice. It's no WONDER this show was a phenomenon in China last year, raking in billions of views online.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
COMMENTS ON THE TOP 7 WHO MADE IT -
1) Ning Jing (She mostly got in bc of her popularity TBH.. I thought she acted quite stuck up in the final episode and sometimes displays a very diva-like persona. Many cnetz also agree and I think it's unfair to some girls because later on, she decided to leave the group and sadly now the group has disbanded. Her skills are so-so, but I give her credit for trying)
2) Wan Qian (No surprise she made it! Aside from being an actress, she also sings well and keeps up with her dancing. She has a quiet, alluring, and chic demeanor that a lot of cnetz also liked)
3) Meng Jia (After being disqualified, she came back with roaring popularity and am glad she did, although part of me wishes Fei made it instead oops)
4) Lisi Danny (the fun ~handsome~ rapper of the group, Lisi was a great leader esp in the last few eps and has a strong masculine vibe)
5) Zhang Yuqi (the biggest surprise! She started out as an X candidate aka one of the lowest scores, but with her confidence and persistence she was able to climb to the top. Her straightforwardness and her no-BS attitude is honestly so refreshing, when I say she DGAF I mean it! At the same time she's also a caring leader ie. she let Baby Zhang have her shine when she was in her group)
6) Yisa Yu (she is so multi talented and faceted. She's known as a ballad singer in China, but on the show she gave us chinese opera, hip hop, rap, etc she really challenged herself and it showed!)
7) Isabelle Huang (honestly I did see her as a dark horse before, but as I kept watching, she also proved herself to have many sides. Aside from her indie sound, she could also dance well and even showed flexibility as a pole dancer!)

Shout out to my girl GINA (JIN) CHEN who performed AMAZINGLY each ep, through to the finals. I considered her one of the strongest contestants on the show and she ALWAYS performed well. Her, Baby Zhang, and Wang Fei Fei were robbed and should have taken Ning Jing's spot.

FAVE Performances (look it up on YT):
1) 潇洒走一回 (imo the best performance at the finals. Lisi Danny did an amazing job leading this group, loved the MJ/Bruno Mars vibes and the tutting: https://youtu.be/pvp7f9_QpGA)

2) 这是因为我们能感到疼痛​ (awesome acrobatics by Meng Jia and my girl Gina Chen: https://youtu.be/_jozzbgs76c)

3) 大碗宽面 (one of the most popular performances from the show, for good reason! Chinese opera + hip hop+ in sync choreo = WOW: youtu.be/mw49aMMUmdw)

MINOR DISLIKES
Just be prepared for a lot of product placement on the show (I mean, for such a big show, you can see why).

I'm super sad that a show that had accompanied me these past few weeks is now over and am now watching Lady Land (the reality show with the winning team)! Season 2 is airing now but it's just NOT on the same level as Season 1. If you like female centered competition shows and sisterhood, this is the SHOW FOR YOU GIRL!

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A story that makes me want to cherish my youth

when this drama first started i was in a relationship. By the time is ended i was not. this drama really captures the essence of young love and how heartbreak is part of our youth. The main characters in this drama has remarkable chemistry and though some may say this drama was dragged out, i completely disagree. The progression of their love story was gradual and understandable. it wasn't not like one of those dramas where wow that escalated quickly. It has tremendous rewatch value. On the other hand some may say that this drama portrays unrealistic ideals of love and being in a relationship, its a c-drama come on. this show has high rewatch value because the side characters aren't boring. i very recommend to watch this.

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" Miss Lee " was an okay drama.

First of all, for a drama called "Miss Lee" there was not much miss lee screen time. Miss Lee had a nice role at first, with the leading lady struggling to feat into her new role as a chairman of a company that's going down. However, later on they started focusing more on the other characters than her. Also, even though the drama had a nice slice of life story with a bitter sweet ending, there was something missing, probably intensity or interesting twists. The performances were good, nevertheless, from every actor and actress in the cast.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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Bad Writing Failed The Actors

LIKE:
Boun & Prem’s chemistry
Waan & Tul story
Manow & Phruek
Location shots (the resorts)
Boun riding motorcycle
FX: blood injury looked real

DISLIKE:
WRITING:
Making Team so childish and whinny, got annoying fast.
Flashbacks used too often and the same ones over and over.
No in-depth back story to explain Win’s fear of commitment. He’s a peace keeper in his family, he’s rich…. AND?
Too many side stories & characters, when focus should’ve been on Team & Win, Manow and Phruek.
No character development for anyone.
Pacing issues caused by repetition and dragged out moments, making it boring without the intimate scenes.
Badly handled mental health issues; once again writer/production team carelessly approached the mental health problems of the characters.

PRODUCTION: Shaking camera moments, please don’t get the k-drama syndrome and use your film stabilizer. Sound editing was not good (either a mic issue or something else).

MUSIC: over powered actors voices too often and certain songs overplayed.

OVERALL:
The actors did well with what they were given. No excuse for bad or lazy writing with characters and zero plot dimension. They had 2 years during the pandemic to focus on what the fans wanted story wise, but failed in so many ways [see all the negative reviews for in-depth analysis of plot/story/writing issues]. (I like Boun and Prem, I want to see them working with other writers and production companies. If Boun won’t do BL without Prem, how about give him a female love interest?)
I will watch certain moments again, or just wait for someone to do a scene compilation on Youtube. I would recommend it to someone who is just starting to watch the BL (Boy Love) genre.

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I was very much surprised with this drama. I started watching it because I liked the cast and the story sounded interesting enough, and I'm so happy I did, because it has found it's place to my heart in a way.

I ended up with a lot of questions in my head like: Can a person ignore its old dreams to create new ones? Can we be happy if we grab to the little things and ignore the rest? Is a short life worth living? Is love enough to support a family? Can we smile when everything is falling apart?

The story is simple but touching, and kept me wanting to see the next episode. Often I laughed and often tears came into my eyes. It mixes a lot of subjects like work, dreams, raising children, animals, society, life and death.

I already knew a lot of the actors, but not the children, all of them were simply great, even the dog! Nishikido Ryo and Mizukawa Asami make an excelente pair. And even though the drama is not a romance drama, you can capture in the little gestures and words, the love they have for each other, even if they don't say it, you can almost feel it. It gives a sense of reality to the all story.

The music was good, and fited the moments well, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.

As for watching this drama again, I will definitly re-watch some of my favorite scenes.

This is not a "five stars" drama, but for a family drama it is very good and I surely recommend it within the gender.

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