In the opening shot, we see a woman whom will be an integral character later in the show, advocating for a woman’s right to openly express her sexuality within Japan cultural mores, shamelessly flaunts her armpit hair to people while saying love means accepting nature, to her it's an expression of feminity and identity. The drama depicts her as a symbol of strong female representation. But even with that, people might still be put off by the show's handling of sexuality at points. It would be too taboo and misogynistic to a different culture, but this drama is not trying to be morally correct, it only depicts a story as what happened, to watch this drama you don't have to agree to enjoy it.
Naked director is an 8 episode drama based on Japanese legend, Toru Muranishi aka "The Emperor of Porn", a controversial figure but considered by many as the most innovative director of Japanese adult videos. He has a fascinating life, went from a Japanese struggling salary man to a legendary director that soon will trigger the Japan's pornographic revolution. It's a fictionalize biography of him, not everything happen is accurate, and some events have been overly dramatized for the sake of entertainment.
Although it's a semi biography about Toru Muranishi, it also shows Japan's economic and cultural expansion, the movement in the porn industry as people move from magazine to video/media age. Rules are changing, everything is changing but not Muranishi's strong resolve. Well paced drama, doesn't felt too slow or fast. It's also has nice balance of slapstick comedy to the underworld dark side of porn. What I especially love about this drama is it doesn't shy away from the bad actions of this main character. They didn't try to portray him as a hero or justified his actions, but also didn't try villainize the character.
It's clearly aims towards international audience. It promotes Japanese culture from food, hustling bustling Tokyo to the infamous Japanese sex industry. The drama also felt inspired by American television, not as thematic and preachy like most Japanese dramas. The music is a blend between electronic and rock. On the technical side, cinematography was the strongest. It clearly depicts 80's vibe, from colors, landmarks and the way they shot famous 80's establishment like disco scenes.
Wonderfully acted all around, these talented casts brought their best in this drama. Yamada Takayuki captivates as ever, brilliantly portray Muranishi, from facial expression to the way he speaks he nailed it. But what's amazing about his performance is how he balances the humor and seriousness given the situation. Biopics needs strong lead actor and Yamada Takayuki delivers. I've seen almost all of his dramas and movies and I think this is one of his best performance and definitely his most daring ever. The one the surprise me the most is the actress who played Kaoru Kuroki, Misato Morita. Talking about a career defining performance, the actress gave it all like literally, that scene alone with Takayuki deserves an award. She's one of the strongest female character in a drama for me, feisty, and she don't give a damn what others will think. Her character is that interesting that they could make a drama out of her. Not just the leads but the supporting cast is a bunch of interesting characters as well, all of them have their own quirks, but don't just serve as comic relief characters, and if there's a standout among them it's Shinnosuke Mitsushima, the one who played that goofy character Toshi, he is the gangster, the do it all of the group. With strong leads and eccentric set of character forms this dynamic group that is fun to watch.
If you're a fan of biopics and you want to learn more about Japan and its fascinating porn history then you should watch this drama. Even if it's considered as the dark side it is still part of its culture. Not for everyone obviously, it's too explicit, and I think even late night Jdrama slot would not show this drama. If there's no Netflix this drama won't get a green light unless they made this into movie. And before someone say it's glorifying porn, it doesn't mean they make this drama that they already glorifying the act, it's just simply telling a story. It's best to separate your morals and reasoning from a story and try to see it through neutral eyes.
Check my Blog for other reviews & other JDramas stuffs. (｡◕‿‿◕｡)
https://thatjapanesedramaguy.blogspot.com/
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Like a refreshing lemonade in the Summer
My very first review! Watched this with a bit of prejudice as age-gap romance was there. But I'm glad I did.Instead of rushing into everything, the writer gives us a slow-burn romance that is both logically and dramatically appealing.
Happy to see both the Male and Female leads having strong personalities. Entire cast gave their best performance. Everything fit perfectly and we have a closure after completing this series.
Thanks to the entire team of Melancholia for this treat. Would re-watch again in the future.
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Great acting from the cast, in particular, from the leads, in which this film was their acting debut. Shawn Dou was great as the hunky lead male (great smile!) and Zhou Dongyu was lovely as the naive lead female. My only gripe: the male lead character seemed to be a bit too perfect and angelic and it would have been nice to have some more dimension to his character.
Even though the film is set during the end of the Cultural Revolution, there isn't too much emphasis on politics. This is a pure love story at its best with the interactions between the main characters at the forefront.
The film also has amazing cinematography. The color palette isn't striking but there is a nice contrast between the village and the city landscapes.
Recommended for those who enjoy those simple and pure love stories.
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It’s a shame that this drama didn’t get the right international attention despite the fact that this is one of the best produced K-dramas back in 2012.
This is a journey in the harsh world of political schemes and the higher ups power struggle where the jungle law is effective: “the strong consumes the weak”. However, a man defies that law and starts his own journey of justice to defend his beliefs accompanied by fellows and confronted by whoever who gets hold of power. The Chaser’s screenwriting is almost flawless if we exclude some events, nothing less from a genius writer named Park Kyeong Soo who never fails in delivering delicious witty dialogues full of wisdom quotes. The thrilling events will keep you at the edge of your seat; just get ready to throw yourself into a ride of consuming twists and endless turns because that’s the core of this drama: Extremely Intense screenwriting.
If I have to talk about acting, I would say it’s high-class and very penetrating especially the main leads’. With veteran charismatic actors like Kim Sang Joong and Son Hyun Joo, you’re bound to expect perfect roles’ portrayal and astonishing acting skills. Other actors were also fitting and quite enjoyable to watch.
As for the characters, you will find yourself compassionate towards the protagonist and not hating the evil figure mainly because he succeeds at making you understand his motives. The rest of characters were appreciated especially their development but if I have to mention the most absorbing character in this drama, I would say Chairman Seo Dong Hwan. He had such a complex character that can be described as a man of wisdom, who represented power but those qualities can also be interpreted as filthy power and misleading wisdom.
It's a given that intense dramas with several twists would lose its factor of surprise once it's rewatched that's why its value is low.
To summarize, you should watch this if you’re looking for a good thriller, unique plot, cliché-free storyline, top-notch acting, powerful screenwriting and deep characters. However, if you’re searching for a romantic plot, cheesy events, light drama or idol actors then you shouldn’t be reading this in the first place.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama is a rather different republican drama, it's not about espionage, not about the civil war or fighting against the Japanese, it's not even about glamourous Shanghai. It's set between 1915 till 1921, but majority of the story happen between 1917 till 1919 and revolves around the New Culture Movement (or May Fourth Movement) and mostly set in Peking University. It's about young people trying to find a way to save their country, it's about introducing new ideas and changing customs that had been there for thousand of years.A little background first, Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911 and Republic of China was established, but life didn't change much. Most ports and a lot of important railways were under colonial control because China had lost multiple wars in the past century and Qing's government had been on a decline. Even with the new government, it was still rather chaotic times, there were warlords abound (and they continue to be influential and powerful in their various regions until Second Sino-Japanese war), the government was far more interested in infighting and power grabbing (as depicted in multiple cabinet changes throughout the drama), and there were many that wished Qing would come back.
I had imagine the drama would be relatively hard to get into, but it's actually not! The beginning loosely revolved around the creation and publishing of Xinqingnian/New Youth/La Jeunesse, which was a magazine created by our protagonist Chen Duxiu, and promotes science and democracy. It slamed Confucianism and classical Chinese while promoting using vernacular Chinese. It's during these times, the famed Lu Xun wrote his first vernacular Chinese novel, a short story called Diary of a Madman, where the narrator sees the traditional customs as "man-eating". Vernacular Chinese would end up making education much much more accessible to the common people. The drama even had someone that wanted everyone to abandon characters altogether and adopt latin alphabet. While this didn't end up happening, it set the grounds for the modern pinyin system that students use to learn characters \nowadays.
With some of these rather outrageous suggestions, there's of course some opposition, there's some that support the return of the emperor, there's understandably some that doesn't want to abandon thousand year old traditions and customs, there's those that sing praise to beauty and simplification of classical Chinese. These technical "antagonists" were portrayed respectfully and even somewhat adorably. They weren't backwards dimwits, multiple of them were well respected professors who had sound ideas and were remarkable in their respective fields. e,g, Gu Hongming was a notable polyglot and translator who studied for decade and half in UK and knew western culture as well as he knew Chinese culture, but he was a staunch conservative because he deeply believed in preserving the roots, he gave my favourite speech in the entire drama!
Like the movement itself, the drama mentioned and showed various political philosophy. The drama started with students arguing if constitutional monarchy or democracy was better, Hu Shi who idolises experimentalism was prominent part of the drama, anarchism and mutual aid was explore quite a bit through the Chen brothers (Chen Duxiu's sons), and of course Marxism comes into play late in the drama too. Despite my description, the drama wasn't like a dry political lesson, it was times of multiple parties debate and tried to see what fits China, I don't know how to describe the joy of seeing some of these debates. It helped that it featured so many well known people that pioneered or made great contribution to various fields in modern China. Seriously, some one off cameo might be a well known revolutionist :P
The culmination of the New Culture Movement is May Fourth Movement. After end of WWI, Treaty of Versailles was signed, but the German concession in Shandong province was transferred to Japan (due to Twenty One demands that's mentioned in ep 1), instead of given back to China, despite the fact China had sent tens of thousands of workers to the frontlines and contributed greatly to the war. It was the first time in a century that China was part of the victor's side, and everyone had hoped that might be the start of fighting back against colonial control. Unfortunately, the government had failed them, they simply didn't have enough power to demand it back, nor did the other countries care to get involve when it didn't concern them. This caused mass demonstrations all around China, starting with students and not long after workers as well, eventually this led to the government refusing to sign the peace treaty, the first time in recent history where China tried to fight back in diplomacy. May Fourth movement further promoted new ethics system, mobilised students and workers to express their dissatisfaction and protect their interest, led to reorgnisation of KMT, and contributed to the start of Chinese Communist Party.
Normally I wouldn't spend so much time essentially spoilering the show, but this is all history, and rather complicated history that I personally didn't know much about (besides May Fourth), so I thought I'd go over the gist while gushing. It was a lot of fun wiki‘ing while watching the drama, and I'm glad it ended at 1921, since that way the drama was mostly uplifting. I'd say avoid wiki'ing if you don't want to know who meets their early demise (many do), but the drama will tell you when they appear for the last time anyways. The drama was surprisingly light despite the chaotic background and heavy historical basis, the humour was fairly natural and the characters were mostly very smart even though they argued a lot, the young people were super relatable and a fair few end up being world changing. These were 90s and 00s kids of the previous century and I can't begin to imagine doing some of the amazing things they do despite being the same age or even younger.
I actually love so many of the characters that I don't know where to begin, the Chen brothers were probably my favourite though, since they were rarely portrayed in dramas before this. They were resilient and idealistic, had a rather complicated relationship with their father that was portrayed pretty thoroughly throughout the drama. It's one of the biggest deviation from actual history, historically they would have been estranged for most part of their lives, and they likely wouldn't have been around for most the drama if it stuck closer to history. Zhang Wanyi and Ma Qiyue did amazing in this drama, I look forward to Zhang Wanyi's role in Daylight Ent's drama with Bai Yu + Mao Xiaotong + Song Zu'er, Ma Qiyue was only 14 when he played Qiaonian (who's 13~18 in the drama) so he has a bright future ahead of him! The acting was all around splendid, especially Yu Hewei who played Chen Duxiu amazingly (and won Magnolia award for it woohoo!) and Ma Shaohua who played the adorable University principal Cai Yuanpei that facilitate the awesome environment where various ideals could flourish.
Unfortunately, one of the few female characters with significant role started off rather terribly, playing a spoilt and unreasonable girl, she comes around rather quickly but it was jarring. I think her acting/her character was one of the few flaws of the drama, but she still have some shining scenes here and there, most notably a play that acts out the debates they've been having and notes the oppression that women have been facing. The other minor flaw was female characters don't get much screen time, a lot of well known female revolutionists weren't in Beijing at the time (they were in France or Hunan province, there are other dramas that do feature them), and they mostly weren't relevant to New Culture Movement. The few older women around were wives regulated to homemaking roles (despite one being educated and could be portrayed less stereotypically), younger women tend to play more active roles (all fictionalised) since students were first supporters of the movement.
Lastly, I must applaud the drama for the absolutely spectacular directing! Hot damn, I was big fan of the director after Advisor Alliance (do rec! Fun retelling of Three kingdoms!), but now I'm a super fan and will gobble everything Zhang Yongxin puts out (also got a Magnolia!). He has amazing eye for framing shots, he filled the drama with symbolism that I don't know how to interpret sometimes. I loved the astounding sequence that introduced Lu Xun and clearly referenced his story "Medicine", the goose bump inducing scene of Li Dazhao encountering a crying bride without a groom (likely a ghost marriage), the incredible usage of wide angle shots + heavy clouds to create heart aching scene that broke Chen Duxiu near the end of the drama, and of course the montage of Chen brothers as they leave for France stayed with me months after I finished the drama. The soundtrack was super memorable, the distinctive art used to denotes some important events was gorgeous, and I just love the aesthetics of the drama in general.
I've been sitting on this review for whooping 3 months because I don't know how to begin, I feel like all my words pale in comparison, sometimes explaining a scene without seeing it seems to make it lose all of its magic. This is the first time I found the entire drama just screams art to me, and I love it so so much that I want to recommend it to everyone. Please give it a try! I'm dump some interesting tidbits in the comment below, may or may not be spoilery.
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Authentic! The people, the stories, the setting. Affectionate, humorous & true to life characters
"Diary of a Prosecutor" is an extremely delightful, unconventional and, despite all the sometimes snappy, sometimes cheerful, sometimes pitch black, sometimes heartful humor, it also offers a quite serious, profound examination of jurisdiction and practically handling the law. This embedded in the simple everyday work-life of ordinary people, told from the perspective of a provincial prosecutor. The script is based on the essay "Civil War Prosecutor", written by a real prosecutor and inspired by his personal experiences.So it is primarily about the everyday life on the office floors and behind the office doors of the public prosecutor's office. First and foremost, this is about profane workdays that often last until late, including dinner and drinks with colleagues. However, this is also about a noble task, the juggling with legal regulations, the ideals of a just society and the diplomatic basics in dealing with superiors in the strict hierarchy from the bottom to the top. And last but not least, this is a potpourri of different individual stories of quite ordinary people who face the challenges of their inconspicuous lives every day anew, and eventually grow from them - as it is in life...
In other words, you get: a variety of people you grow fond of as you get to know them better; a job-portrait that is subject to the highest expectations, but whose credibility in the country is still not easy. And a (fictional) outskirts - a town at the seaside, famous for its oyster harvest. The filming took place in Tonyeong-si in the very south of the country, where practically the entire crew (around 150 people, including cast) stayed during the five-month shooting period... Provincial life is thus breathing from every pore of the KDrama - everything is a bit more relaxed, closer to nature. Seoul is far away…
Conclusion: Authentic! The people, the stories, the setting. The dramaturgical 'trick': the greater narrative of the omniscient narrator. The humor that comes along with it. Sometimes ironic, sometimes satirical, sometimes bone dry. Bottom line: funny and complex at the same time. Affectionate, humorous and true to life personality portraits. In script and play. The cases and the ethical questions involved go deep at times. And yet it is people who deal with it. Colleagues. Eventually in competition at times. Imperfect people, with weaknesses, even if they wear robes. Yet, people who can excel themselves at times, too. Other than that, the days, weeks, months and years go by, case after case, team dinner after team dinner...
As far as Korean life and culture is concerned, with this KDrama you can get pretty close to the people and their everyday world in many ways. Because of this and a wonderful overall concept, whose good spirit works on all scales, I consider “Diary of a Prosecutor” highly valuable.
Maybe it's a bit unusual at first. Don't let it irritate you. Keep going. I´d say it is worth it...
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And yet, here I am writing a review for the 2nd season, after having marathoned through the first in one night and this one in the next.
The plot is full of cliches - from a narrative point of view, the 1st season was much better - with a little too much lingering on evil sex slave dealers laughing crazily and raising their malignant eyes to the skies. There have been moments I wished they would just go on with the plot (whatever that was), since the drama only has 4 hours time to tell it.
The force of this show is therefore not in the plot, but the characters. Nika, our heroine, is possibly the most adorable being in the northern emisphere. I simply love her. Not because I can rely, or because she's realistic, or because she's flawed but for a combination of those and an amazing ability to surprise me. I couldn't stop laughing at her antics, her sitting in the middle of a square crying about her pubic hair showing from under her underwear. The second after, I would empathize with her. Yes, she's a crazy character whom you can either love or hate, but not ignore.
Arata is the silent hero every girl dreams of, and the chemistry between these two is quite striking if you think this drama is romantic despite having no such ambition.
All the side characters are insane and some deliciosuly hilarious. The villains, on the other hand, are so stereotyped they are forgotten the moment they are out of the screen.
Music is nothing special in this one, while I thought it was quite well chosen in the 1st season.
All in all, I am ready to recommend this drama to:
1. clever people who have put their brains in the fridge for some time to recharge it and don't want to use it for a while
2. fans of Renn Kiriyama (someone has called my name?) and/or Nishiuchi Mariya
3. girls who want to learn what to avoid before a romantic evening with their boyfriend, such as wild hair removal or litres of aphrodisiac perfume
4. lovers of manga-like, over the top comedy
If you're one of the above, enjoy your watch!
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Spirealm has a misunderstood happy ending
Heavy SpoilersDo watch the series, it's very good. A lot of people are saying it's a sad ending but it actually has a very good, albeit unconventional, happy ending.
Spirealm ended with seemingly “it was all a dream” type of ending but my interpretation of the ending was that Lin Jiu Shi , through the act of completing the game, “saved” the game as his childhood friend intended. “Saving” the game in this scenario, reverts all the tragedy the game has caused without erasing anything that’s happened… kind of. The way the story goes about it is a little convoluted but through picking up the themes of this story, is not indecipherable.
Proving that the game did all happen; there are three main points that infers this. The first, most tangible point is that, at the end of the series, LJS wakes up in the middle of the traffic. Assuming everything that’s happened after the traffic accident at the end of the series was dreamt up, it does not explain why the internet cafe boss at the beginning of the series– who’s seen the game before the traffic accident– has no recollection of LJS having played the game. The second point, if everything in the game had not happened, it would make no sense for LJS to accurately know the name of people he’s never met before. The third point, which is the most confusing one, explains one of the main themes and why the director probably chose to take this route.
One of the main themes of Spirealm is the legitimacy of the “virtual world”, where the characters have debated multiple times if everything that happens “virtually” in the game is real or not. I forgot which episode it was but, LJS in the latter part of the series pondered “If the feelings in Spirealm are more sincere than real life, what really is the difference between virtual and reality?” ( Also not a direct translation, I’m too lazy to go find the exact episode and translate it) The point of this quote is, even if the memories don’t exist anymore, the feelings and relationships that were formed during the time in Spirealm were “real” and sincere. We can see this through the way Chen Qian Li fhaving familiarity towards LJS at the end of the series, despite acknowledging that he doesn’t actually know him. This is a little more debatable but you could also argue that the differences between the depiction of the people around LJS before and after he woke up also shows the effects of the game. One could interpret Tan Zao Zao being an influencer instead of an actress as something unconsciously influenced by the events of Spirealm. While being in Spirealm, TZZ felt like she constantly had to mask herself as an actress, you could argue that her being a influencer instead of an actress in the new world as a choice she made unconsciously due to the feelings of restriction she’s felt in Spirealm. Same with instances like Chen Yi Xie watching horror movies as a hobby and Li Dong Yuan being content working as a street vendor that makes little money.
In the last scene of the show, when LJS goes back into Spirealm, he sees TZZ where she tells him “it feels like I woke up from a long dream”, referring to life outside of the game. This further emphasizes how the game is actually “real” too, since when LJS is outside Spirealm, Spirealm is referred to as a “dream”. Whichever reality they are in is the real one, so by proxy, they are both real.
Another point to consider is the relationship between LJS and RNZ. If everything was a dream, then essentially, LJS dreamed up a lifelong companion (boyfriend) in elaborate detail seemingly out of nowhere… It makes more sense if RNZ did exist, but was simply erased from existence due to the game also having been erased. The whole last arc of the story also repeatedly states that he would be erased once the 11th door was complete.
The game bringing people back to life, erasing everyone’s memory, and altering reality also seems entirely reasonable when the whole basis of the game is based on its ability to kill people and warp time. Realistically speaking, there was no real way to depict RNZ and LJS saving the game besides erasing the game completely, therefore, the erasure of everyone’s memory and the game’s existence is the intended effect of “saving the game”.
I also believe that LJS reprogramming the game essentially is the equivalent of him fulfilling his friend's wish of “restoring the game to its original state” as the game he ended up recreating was essentially the original intended game.
I believe that the ending of Spirealm was the perfect happy ending, Everyone is alive again, they get to live their life to the fullest, and in the end, LJS finishes the game where he likely decides is his new “reality” with RNZ. They all live together happily as Chen Qian Li wished for in the 11th door. This is the 12th door, LJS’s completed door of happiness.
That’s mostly all I wanted to say, I’ll probably rewatch the series when Subs (that are comprehensible) come out so I can make exact quotations and give actual episode numbers (plus there are probably more things I have missed). But for now that’s all I’ve wanted to say. I’m open to debate the ending since I feel like the ending was definitely left a little ambiguous but I feel like a lot of these things were changed from the novel with the intent of creating this ending specifically. (ex. Slight novel spoiler: TZZ being a famous and acclaimed actress in the Novel while being mildly unpopular in the series)
Add my insta if you want to talk about this show with me, it lives in my head rent free: krudy._
TLDR: Spirealm was not a dream, everything that happened got erased due to LJS completing the game. Everyone gets transported into an altered reality where they are living their happiest lives (indirectly bc of games events) and LJS reunites with everyone towards the very very end where they all live peacefully together.
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A chance meeting between a two men. One, a young man passing through who has an accident on his bike, the other a slightly older man working on his family's farm.
The two have instant chemistry and spend an idyllic summers day together. Lovely cinematography and development of the story in such a short time.
If you like this one - i also enjoyed "Long time no see" by the same production company - they have a few other Korean based LGBT films on offer via their vimeo account.
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People who are saying, she's following her magic not her own feelings, i think your concept is a bit wrong,even though its shown in a practical form, but the magic is supposed to be her metaphor. she takes time to accept what she really wants,and her magic reflects her desires. she did love chalarn and her love for peng was slowly fading away.
its not her magic's wish. it is indeed her wish. her magic is acting on her desires before her.
WILD EXPLANATION BELOW :
" i bore what i could, i accepted what i can, that's why we lasted 15 years" tantawan said to chalarn about peng
Girl, a clap doesn't make sound well with just one hand's force. that one hand will eventually get tired.
Actually even though i kinda shipped pengXtantawan more than tantawanXchalarn at the beginning, im glad she ended up with chalarn.
BUT from episode 9 i was all tantawanXchalarn.
yes i read the comments in mydramalist, a lot of ppl were saying that the ending is unclear. the ending looked pretty fucking clear to me.
Yes tantawan loves peng more than chalarn, even during the ending of the last episode, but her love for peng is slowly fading away as well. i mentioned above that her magic is her metaphor portraying her desires before herself.
when she closed her eyes beside her brother at the starry sky, she of course thought of peng and it was peng who indeed came.
most ppl thought that to be the important moment. but the most important moment was after that, when they were sweet conversing in the bed.
when she asked peng for the next night to hang out with her or dine , his reply was " i have shifts".
And her expression said the very thing," ah shit here we go again"
she was sick of this,
" love and compatibility are not the same thing,"
even though very supernatural based, if the super power is considered her metaphor, the ending was very realistic.
she clearly loved chalarn,. and peng too. peng more.
but with peng she was suffocating slowly. and chalarn? he was everything tantawan wanted peng to be. no one knows if chalarn isn't gonna turn out just as peng later on, but for now, we live this very minute, and in this very minute, she felt extremely happy with chalarn
even though they say opposite attracts, complete opposites dont attract each other. complementary opposites attract .
north pole is opposite to south pole, but together they make a magnet. chalarn and tanta are different or opposites but they are complementary.
but even though peng and tanta were opposites, they were not complementary .
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Made Me Unbelievably Mad
Overall: I'm a sucker (haha) for vampire BL. I was willing to overlook too many characters and a totally unneeded love triangle, but episode 8 made me start screaming at my computer in rage. Watched on Viki.Content Warnings: hypnotizing someone against their will and biting their lips, murders/death, gore/blood
What I Liked
- the premise of a vampire wanting to become human instead of the other way around (a la Twilight)
- I liked that the college student didn't just ghost/run away, but he's really pretty dumb to be alone with vampires...
- good production value
Room For Improvement
- this was some really awful writing, the ending was absolutely abysmal. They could have had some smart plot twists but did not. I need another vampire BL that is done well to destroy my memory of this one.
- they needed to cut characters and really build the relationship between the vampire and college student, they spend like 2 hours together and are soulmates...
- the explanation 10 years ago was disappointing, I thought there was more too it but basically the main vampire was just stupid
- the treatment of his friend (for hundreds of years!!!) at the end was awful. Jun Ho was actually worse when you think about it.
- I'm not even going to get into the just odd/unexplained/poorly thought out world building
- some odd camera shots, too many close ups
- way too many flashbacks that were used as filler
- the extreme blur filter that made the vampire look like a ghost
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1Based on romance, scenic views & craftsmanship.
It was a good drama, not too good or too bad, it isn't for those who get easily bored, there wasn't anything special about this drama, just an average couple & their struggles with a bunch of crisis here & there.There were misunderstandings as usual between the leads but they were solved easily, not too draggy.
No major villains, bad guys & cliche plots.
Overall it was good for time pass, just like a documentary.
Last few episodes of the drama were too boring & went downhill from romance to craftsmanship lawsuits & chinese values, I think if they just focused on the romantic part of the drama it would have been more than enough but they just made the last few episodes about something completely different.
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Disappointing Sunset with No Vibes!
There was absolutely nothing in the show that worked for me except Sam and Yoh the side couple who appeared for only 2-3 minutes in each 1+ hour episode.The trailer promised a fantasy element, but except for a few brief moments, I did not get that. What was presented was so anti-climatic that I would have preferred if they had stuck with Office Romance as the genre.
I had hoped Lin and Sun's chemistry would be the saving grace of this series, but unfortunately, I cringed at almost all their scenes together. Mos and Bank have more believable offscreen chemistry in their YouTube videos than in this whole series. That much-hyped and anticipated painting scene was meant to be iconic but it was a disaster. I am all here for artistic expression but this didn't feel like it was necessary at all.
Also, that necklace (you know what I am talking about) was UGLY.
Sam and Yoh were the only reason I kept watching this but they were also far from perfect. The screentime was very less to make their love story believable. I am still wondering how Yoh fell for Sam. But again , this was the only silver lining.
The other couples except Sam and Yoh looked forced and literally contributed nothing of value to the plot.
The dialogues were so poorly written that they felt like Chatgpt wrote them. A special mention to 'Khun Dad' !! Because NO.
Overall, I would NOT recommend this and hope the actors choose a better script next time.
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Golden Cross can be divided into two parts: Before episode 15 and after episode 15. The first part was gripping; events kept getting more intense with each minute passing by, the revenge built up was going smoothly, the characters were more rational and interesting to follow. Prior to episode 15, most of things were impressive; I even called it a high-class piece and one of the most underrated currently airing dramas but I guess too much arrogance crushed my dreams to select this as the best K-drama of the year.
After episode 15, everything started to fall apart drastically; the plot lost focus and the story took a dangerous turn. The drama went forward and backward leading all wrong directions without finding its right balance. A certain twist ruined it all for me, I am very disappointed with the writer-nim; she was the woman who wrote a fabulous drama like The Bridal Mask so I thought that she can handle an economical revenge thriller in a better way than this. The woman just couldn’t keep the drama going for 20 hours. I think the right length for this drama should’ve been 16 episodes, if it ended right there; then things would’ve been great.
You simply cannot hate a drama because of five disastrous episodes; but it really depends on thir location in the drama’s airing plan; if these episodes were at the beginning, at the middle or came in separately then the viewer could be lenient but delivering those types of episodes at the end back to back is unforgivable. It’s a fact that the latter episodes of each drama tend to be the most important ones so yeah, it’s absolutely intolerable.
The acting was high-class; there were absolutely mesmerizing and well-chosen actors for this one. You can’t say “no” to Kim Kang Woo’s penetrating acting, Jung Bo Seok’s veteran style, Uhm Ki Joon’s charismatic skills and all other actors’ dedication to their roles. I loved the 100% idol-free main cast; they simply open your appetite for real acting. The characters on the other hand weren’t all appealing. For instance; the female department suffered so badly from laid-back characters without much changes or depth.
The music and cinematography for this one were nice but forgettable; they didn’t add too much impact on the story.
Watch if:
-You’re hardcore fan of revenge dramas.
-You like idol-free dramas.
Do not watch if:
-You’re looking for mind games and mental war.
-You’re looking for a masterpiece out of the revenge theme.
-You’re looking for romance.
Golden Cross was an amazing drama up until episode 15 when everything started heading to the wrong direction. I didn’t hate it but it’s a shame since this drama held too much potentials to become one of the better K-dramas of the year.
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Sweet and hollow as a marshmallow!
I am almost as disappointed as Mark was by how this drama turned out to be.Now, there are two kinds of “no plot fluff” dramas. One that wraps you up in cozy, feel-good vibes and makes you feel warm. And then there is the other kind where it is so sugary, overloaded with sweetness and cliches, it gives you a sugar crash (metaphorical). This lands in the 2nd category for me.
The drama is light and fluffy, but it leans so far into cliche and surface-level storytelling that it forgets to offer anything remotely substantial. It started out promisingly with fun banter and a playful tone but quickly spiraled into repetitive campy comedy that we have already seen so many times.
Instead of staying in its fluff lane, the drama tried to juggle too many arcs with little to no payoff.
Romance? Check.
Jealousy arc? Check.
Family drama? Check.
Emotional growth? Well… it tried. Kind of. But none of it landed properly.
By the time we reached the last four episodes, it felt like someone had cut the script into pieces and taped them back in the wrong order. The editing was choppy and a bit incoherent.
Chemistry-wise, I will give credit where it’s due. The leads did have sparks and with a better script, I believe they could have delivered something memorable. But this script gave them so little to work with.
Still, their playful interactions and NC scenes were done tastefully well. Those moments did bring a silly smile to my face despite everything bland going on.
Another bright spot was Jimmy as Captain. He swooped in with such charm and even though he brought the classic jealous second lead trope, it somehow worked for me. He gave the show the energy it desperately needed.
I also enjoyed the OSTs here. Make me smile is my favourite from the lot!
In the end, this was a classic case of "style over substance", like a perfectly rich cake but when you cut into it, it's just air and disappointment.
Recommended If you are looking for fluff and fluff alone, this might scratch that itch. But don’t expect anything more than a cute smile and a lot of filler.
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