Completed
Life in Smokey Blue
28 people found this review helpful
10 days ago
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

A story about loneliness and the struggles of everyday life...

Many viewers won't like this series much, because first it's not a BL, secondly there is no real drama but many heartwarming/heartbreaking moments in this story. It's a slice of life where two people drawn together, fight their past baggage and come together in the end.

It depicts the struggles especially in Japan where social pressure and expecations are a real burden. The last episode Azuma describes that best: "I feel like I've just been running in circles. I kept telling myself I'd take a real break when things settle down. But "settling down"... if you don't force yourself to take the time, it feels like it'll never happen."

We see the disconnect of families like Kuji and his brother, who takes the house Kuji is living in, not just because he inherited but despite his hate for his father. He does not really need that house but he kicks Kuji out of it regardless. Azumas mom is struggeling with loneliness because many eldery people left alone because their spouses already left and their children are struggeling themselves not investing the time to be there for them.

This is slow pacing, some may say boring, but life itself is not an action movie. It's running in circles and to break out of that circle is the real challenge both of them faces. And in the end, they manage to do it.

These are veteran actors not needing a queer role to stay relevant. Of course Takeda Kouhei is best known to us for his role in "Oldfashion Cupcake" while for Shibuya Kento it's his first stop at such an series as a main role (he was a guest in Ossans Love). Both did an amazing job and overall the cast was strong. Production quality and cinematography was on point with slow movements and great pictures to punctuate the actors characters and performance.

If you are tired of the 100th school BL this is something completely different, a mature look of two people struggeling and a sensitive composition of how two people can find to each other without the usual drama and silly scripts. I can't do no other as highly recommand you to watch this. But this is not for escapists, this is for people who want to improve their understanding.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Eternal Love Rain
28 people found this review helpful
Dec 16, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 6.0

2020 drama underdog that I surprisingly looked forward to

Eternal Love Rain is possibly one of the most uncomplicated, easy to watch, romance drama with basic conflicts and villains for 2020.

Most might not like this because it’s a lot like junk food and sweets, but I am some of the few who actually liked and waited eagerly for all the episodes. I like it exactly because the episodes were short, the story was very uncomplicated and it was easy for me to relate and understand.

The actors are not as popular as those in other dramas but for small production like these, I think they did their part. I specially would like to commend the actor for Li Ji because he might be the oldest but he pulled it off being the crown prince. Overall, the main and supporting cast were ok.

On the romance part, it was very PG 13, which for other dramas I would be disappointed, but for Eternal Love Rain I think it actually works because it makes Xiu Rui/Wang Run Ze’s acting more acceptable like he’s really a pure/innocent dragon on his first romance/love. I am also some of the few that are not bothered by Yin yin/Camille Hua’s high pitched voice because I understand that some people do get high pitched when they are excited (like me) and her character is almost always happy/excited. Lol. I just found Wang Run Ze and Camille Hua’s scenes together to be so adorable/precious that I don’t mind the awkward kiss scenes. Lol.

Regarding the conflict and villain, this story has got to have the most uncomplicated villains and conflicts for any period drama. The show did try to humanize the villains (Mo Cheng Feng and the Xiu Ren) and gave them fitting ends. The conflicts are also easily resolved after 1 or 2 episodes.

Anyway give this show a shot if you’re lookingj for something light to watch. Just watch it at 1.5x speed so you won’t get as irritated.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Seonam Girls High School Investigators
28 people found this review helpful
by Malu
Nov 4, 2015
14 of 14 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 9.5
This review may contain spoilers
First, I'm really excited to write this review because I think this is a drama that many underestimated, including me.
I swear on my life that at the end of the second episode I had no doubt that the drama was a mess, too extravagant and I didn't understand any character. However, my younger sister encouraged me to keep watching because, I don't know why, the drama had fascinated her.
Now that I've finished the last chapter I must honestly say I swallowed my words and curses. This drama was absolutely great, lovely and especially smart, while still being funny and eccentric.

There will come a time (approximately in Chapter 5) where you will not be able to stop and it will become the best remedy for a bad day, it will be the last thing you want to watch before going to sleep.

The performances of the young detectives make love the weirdness of each character. The misunderstood Ahn Chae Yool and her adorable brother (seriously, I've become a stalker of this actor) were the characters I loved most. Hye Ri was so sweet that no doubt will soon give much to talk with her next drama.
In fact, there are two characters who, although they influenced the history, I think they were superfluous: The teacher Ha and his unbearable mother, I totally hated their characters because their existence didn't make sense to me.

However, it's gratifying to see that a Korean drama begin to confront sensitive issues such as abortion or homosexuality.
One point that I found unique about this drama is that there was no representative song, just the sweet whistled melody of the intro.
In short, this is a drama that yes or yes you'd want to see again. I hope you give it a chance and do not miss it because you'll beg for a sequel ... like me XD

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
You Are My Fateful Love
28 people found this review helpful
Apr 11, 2026
30 of 30 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers
It was an emotional, beautiful, natural, playful, hilarious and a very sweet drama. I thoroughly enjoyed being with the main leads in their journey, sipping my cuppa leisurely, without skipping a single scene., thereby appreciating the little nuances and details which I would have otherwise missed. It was calming and healing for me.
The dialogues, OST, visuals, bgm everything fitted nicely with the story.
The second couple were good too. I'm so pleased that they had a good ending too.
Li Shi Can! As much as I felt annoyed with him in those few episodes in Shenao, in the latter episodes I began to warm up to him😭😭. In fact I enjoyed the comedy he provided with Xu Huaisong.
Editor Chen was a surprise 😂
The cute highschoolers, the Ruan family, Xu family, the lawyer colleagues, Sun Miaohan and the rest of the supporting cast 💖

This drama is simple and delivers what it is supposed to, that is, mutual secret crush transitioning to mutual love through deep understanding , trust, shared vulnerabilities, communication.
No less than 10/10
Will definitely be in my rewatch list and the place to go to when I need that extra tlc

Recommended for romance drama lovers.
Not for people who like intense stories, complicated plots, multiple plot twists, toxic relationships.
Definitely not for those who critically appraise C dramas like a research paper 🤣🤣

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
28 people found this review helpful
Sep 7, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers

It´s Girl Power time! Outrageous, luminous angelic + consistently deadly, too. Pitch-black humour.

"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" or in the original "Lovely Geum-ja" is grossly funny, bitterly satirical, with a huge portion of pitch-black, bone-dry, unpredictable humor. The KMovie playfully juggles with details that seem to have sprung from a film noir and, above all, deliberately wants to irritate with the aestheticizing stylization of bloodthirsty revenge.

Geum-ja is an Angel of revenge in the most literal sense. Luminous, angelic in her kindness, yet consistently deadly when it comes to her revenge mission. This makes the KMovie a paradoxical, incomparable experience: bizarre, absurd, dark and yet pointedly funny.

It´s is Girl power time! Patriarchy is in the pillory, regarding various offenses and arrogance of most of the male characters. Geum-ja (convincing to the point: Lee Young-ae) offers the entire program of associations with the feminine in its blatant contradictions: saint, whore, witch, as well as mother, lover, friend. Guilty in naive innocence. Outrageous. Diabolical. Sovereign. Powerful. Decided. Efficient. Exhilarated. Significantly, a remix of Vivaldi's "Ah ch'infelice semper" swings the baton in the background.

Storytelling is always close to Geum-ja. Not too much, just as much as is needed, is given to the audience. A serious, deeply meaningful off-screen narrator closes the gaps. As I said, the humor is pitch-black.

By the way, the KMovie (which has also received many international awards) is the third part of a revenge trilogy by director Park Chan-wook, which includes "Oldboy", that is considered one of the most influential films of contemporary South Korean cinema.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
The Miracle
28 people found this review helpful
Jan 7, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
Although I was curious about this drama, I wasn't expecting much. And maybe that's why I was so pleasantly surprised. The Miracle may not be a masterpiece, but it's still quite refreshing.

What I enjoyed the most about it is that - FOR ONCE - even though one of the main characters starts overweight, the moral of the story is NOT that "skinny = happiness". The moral of the story is that your physical appearance alone doesn't define you.
Of course, your outward appearance matters, since it's the first feature people can see and judge, but who you are as a person is just as important. You're not any less worthy of living/being successful because your physical appearance doesn't match society's expectations. You shouldn't have to change your physical appearance for others.
It's really nice to see this kind of moral, especially in a Kdrama (even tho The Miracle is only a web drama per se).

Unfortunately, that point alone is not enough to disregard completely the flaws of this drama.
Mainly the main romance. It was too hasty, too shallow, too cliché. Even if it was cute, it fell flat. For a seemingly romance-focused drama, it's a bit unsatisfactory to say the least. Also the story had a lot of potential, but due to its short format, most of it was cut short.
The acting was also not outstanding, but I did nonetheless really much enjoy the performance of the two sisters, as well as the one Yang Hak Jin gave. Their acting had a kind of "rough authenticity" feel to it, which i personally liked.
As for the soundtrack, the songs are pleasing to the ear, but even so nothing memorable.

Overall, The Miracle is refreshing, sweet, full of positivity...and short; you can basically view those 12 episodes in about 3 hours. So if you're looking for an uplifter, and don't mind turning a blind eye on apparent flaws, look no further.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou
28 people found this review helpful
Jul 15, 2012
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
I hadn't watched a Jdrama in a while and I wanted to watch a light fun Jdrama. This drama was the perfect fix.

Story: The story is set in Bakuda/Bakaleya high school. Now I love school dramas because I can relate to them because I'm in high school as well. However I really found it interesting to see how schools in Japan are run. The story is really simple but entertaining to watch. I'll admit the boys do fight a lot, but I actually found the fight scenes really interesting. The fight scenes really bought out the characteristics of each boy. The girls were annoying at first, especially Fumie who showed no expression, but they grew on me. I love how smoothly the boys and girls transition from enemies to friends. Another thing I really liked were that the boys,though rowdy, were really sweet, good boys who just wanted to protect their honor and pride. They had so much spirit that I wanted to join their school. I marathoned this drama over 2 days when I had time and it was really entertaining and fun to watch.

Cast: So its seems that this is a cast of rookie actors. The acting honestly wasn't that bad. Some more expression could have been shown, but it was believable. The cast improved with every episode which I give props for. They are extremely good looking so that's a plus as well. The only downside to having such a big cast, was that in the beginning I really got my names confused. I couldn't figure out who was Tatsuya and who was Tetsuya. I honestly thought they were the same person at first.

Music: I loved loved loved the theme song!! Its so catchy! But it reminded me of another song, and it really bugged me for a day. I figured out what song it reminded me of - F.Cuz's No. 1. The beat is the same in both songs. But the song is good, and honestly I think the theme song was the only song played in this whole drama. At least that was the only song I heard. But I really liked it, and it wasn't like BOF where you got sick of hearing Almost Paradise... every 2 minutes.

Rewatch: I definitely think I would rewatch this again if I'm in the mood for a cute, fun, light-hearted Jdrama.

Overall: Really good, fun Jdrama. I would recommend to anyone who wants something entertaining to watch which won't get them too emotional.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
My Dear Loser: Edge of 17
28 people found this review helpful
Apr 26, 2020
9 of 9 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 6.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 5.5
Rewatch Value 6.0

WITHOUT THE BL, IT IS A LOSER

I really wanted to like this series. I tried it because of the BL element but what we get is only about 25% of BL goodness and 70% of annoying trio of negligible main characters. What about the 5%, you asked? It is for Lee and Sing who are like the not-so-good fairy godmothers.

Lets talk about the LOSER so we can get him out of the way. Yes, I understand that the main character IS a loser but Oh is a whiny and perverted character and even if he is bullied he is just hard to feel sorry for. What's worse is when he goes home his mother bullies him too (telling him he is good for nothing) and everything is setup to be a light comedy scene as if nothing bad is happening at school. No bullying should be comedy. And even fter the makeover transformation he still feels like a Loser.

I wrote about the female lead initially but in this edit can we just pretend she never existed.

The saving grace is the BL element. Yes, plus points for Sun for being definitely gay and eventhough In's character is confused and confusing, Pluem's cuteness kind of overcomes the negative parts. And comeon, his singing voice is just golden. No kissing scenes and the ending for these 2 was not as satisfying as i hoped for but i forgive them for continuing their story in another series. InSun deserves a series of their own.

Rewatchability 6.0 - if you are a BL fan just watch the InSun supercut. Total score 6.5 just because of InSun without them its a 4.5.


Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Sweet Revenge
28 people found this review helpful
by Romane
Feb 10, 2018
22 of 22 episodes seen
Completed 6
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 4.5
Rewatch Value 7.5
This webdrama was really easy to watch even though this is not the most original plot that I've seen, it's light and funny.
It wasn't extraordinary but the actors/actresses are enjoyable to watch and of course Cha Eun Woo is mesmerizing (he's not the best actor, but he has that charisma that I really like so).
I must say that the first 14 episodes were really good but after the story lacked a little and the end was a little unsatisfying.
There isn't so much songs in it but I like a lot the rap music that is in it.
So it wasn't a memorable webdrama but it was fresh and I liked to watch it, so don't have high hopes about this just take it the way it is!

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Leh Nangfah
28 people found this review helpful
Apr 24, 2015
28 of 28 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers
*Spoilers MAY BE ahead*

I need to take a break from Korean/Taiwanese drama. So I haven't watched a Thai Lakorn for so long, the last one I watched was Kaew Lorn Phat (Something like that) After watching this, I LOVED IT (Coming from a guy's point of view)

Story:
Pretty unique, I have never watch a drama like this ever? To be honest, I found episode 1-4 kinda boring, but after a while it picked up. There are some misunderstanding and so-so. There's no evil second lead so that's a new thing to me (plus for me). The bad"guy" doesn't come out until the end but as you watch on, they give you hints, so look out for those.
The plot itself is already self-explanatory: Selfish and conceited girl turns good

Acting/Character:
All the cast did EXCELLENT, mostly the two main characters!
+Chemistry between the two leads is cute :)
+No evil second lead girl/boy
+Angels :P
-Kinda annoying second lead (Not Pat) though (Sticks to main actor like glue sometimes)
-Pat's and Beauty's relationship will sometimes be annoying (To me sometimes it was)

Music:
The music wasn't that bad but rather dull, there was like only 3 songs that I could remember
2 instrumenal music?
1 vocal song

REWATCH VALUE: Probably ( If Im bored and need a drama to watch)

Watch this drama if you're a big lakorn fan or asian drama fan. This is one of my favorite thai lakorn :)

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Ongoing 40/40
Draw the Line
28 people found this review helpful
Oct 1, 2022
40 of 40 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10

A must watch drama for 17+

Why? Read till the end…

I didnt expect a court drama will be so interesting like this, the cases are from real events and very well choosen. Lots of famous real cases from this drama encourage us to think and understand the dilemma of both sides (defendant and plaintiff), how judges have to balance between law and morality.

The cases often spark debates, force us to rethink and open our mind in unexpected ways.

Acted by Jin Dong, Cheng Yi and lots of other veteran and excellent actors, undoubtedly they make this drama enjoyable to watch.

There are countless life lessons we cant ever get from ordinary dramas and we will regret if we miss them out.

So, for new watchers, just try to watch 2-3 series to see if you get hooked with the stories or not.

*The english subs is not the best, but still understandable. Its available on mangotv youtube channel too, where the translation seems better there.

**updated after finishing 40 episodes without skipping any scenes (which is rare nowadays)

Till the end, the plot flows smoothly, no dragging, fillers, etc.

Draw the Line is a rare gem and a must watch drama for 17+ people, not because of xxx of course, hahaha, because it needs deep comprehension and matured thinking to be able appreciating this kind of drama :D

It also teaches us to be aware on how to “draw the line” in our own life, since we are facing bad/good/grey area and have to make decisions everyday.

So if you are 17+, you must enjoy DTL, if you dont enjoy it, then you should call your parents to watch it, hahaha

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Show Window: The Queen's House
28 people found this review helpful
Jan 18, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 5.0

All that glitters is not gold.

"Beautiful and splendid show window... It's open for everyone to see, but once the spotlights go out and the curtains are drawn, no one can ever know what's going on inside." ~ A minor character from the drama said this.

In a world where people care about the vaunting virtue more than one's inner beauty, we have developed ways to showcase what we wish to swank about. But what happens behind the walls, is always more than the alluring self, which most of us don't bother to care about. Show window is one of the most effective way in that regards but little do we know about the camouflaged matters that can either ruin us or shape us for good.

As you already know, this is a makjang, undoubtedly with toxic elements and nerve-racking characters in it. The question should be, "is this worth checking out?" . Well, yes, in my opinion, I would send you a positive nod. It's not something sort of a must watch but if you're fond of the genre, it surely is an enjoyable watch.

I will tell you a simple plotline, differently from the synopsis given everywhere. There is a happy family of four people and one day the husband is caught cheating on the wife. The wife scared of hurting her children by separating from her husband, pushes herself to save the family and simultaneously tries to get rid of the third person. The husband with high ambitions to own his mother-in-law's company doesn't wanna leave his family, nor does he want to abandon his extramarital lover. The story leads towards the unveiling the husband's true self and establish harmony.

This sounds very simple and typical, right? Well because, it is an usual Kdrama makjang storyline with cliché elements but not to spoil the actual plot, the way of occurrence, screenplay and execution are different from what you'll be able to perceive from the above paragraph. And that's why it's a good watch and to mention, it's for those who are into mild makjang stories accompanied by corporate thrillers, i. e. fight for power and hierarchy.

Song Yoon Ah as Han Sun Joo is considered the Queen who has achieved perfection from every aspect and is ideal to many women; born into a wealthy family, she can pull on anything and marries to a capable & devoted man, now having a loving family. Lee Sung Jae as Shin Myung Seop is a highly ambitious man who with his dedication plus wife's support has been able to climb the hierarchial ladder in Lahen group that belongs to his mother in law. Jeon So Min as Yoon Mi Ra is a lady deprived of love and seeks constant attention from the one she loves. She falls for Myung Sup and they immediately get into a mutually reciprocating relationship. Hwang Chan Sung as Han Jung Won is a warm-hearted guy who loves his sister Sun Joo and despite being slow-witted, knows how to deal with situations.

Some other good actors in major roles are: Moon Hee Kyung (Kim Kang Im) as Sun Joo's mother & Lahen's chairperson, Kim Sung Soo (Cha Young Hoon) as Sun Joo's close friend, Kim Byung Ok (Kim Dae Wook) as the Chief Detective. Shin Yi Joon (Shin Tae Hee) and Park Sang Hoon (Shin Tae Yong) play the children of Sun Joo and Myung Sup.

Only the above mentioned 9 characters are of essence while some others in major characters didn't show any sort of notable acting, in fact, many of the characters, to me, felt very unnecessary fillers. They weren't required for the story; especially all of the residents of the town residency complex who were there to just gossip and even so, the amount of gossiping was absolutely useless for a drama.

I have mixed opinions about the plot development of this drama; it is both good and bad, not both at the same, obviously. The first episode, as an introductory wasn't that impressive but as usual, I decided not to judge it that soon. But what I was already loving was the way initial base of the story was being established as the episodes furthered. The screenplay is gripping, intensively appealing and definitely something catchy. But then there's a leap which is not distinctly shown but yeah, things somehow change and there starts another mood of the drama. It becomes even more interesting and makes you expect, which lasts for about next 2 episodes. And that's when the show starts going downhill.

Well, it doesn't really turn bad or suddenly becomes uninteresting but they start attempting to exaggerate the plot to an extent and while doing that, they include some awfully unnecessary elements and morever, they repeat some of them which was clearly visible. What saved it from a probable backlash was the fact that tbe quality starts degrading much later the interval, which in my opinion is a key time period to evaluate a show, hence, I've tried to reflect it through my ratings.

I am very surprised to have come to know that the makers of the drama are both rookies. Not sure if they've worked as assistants before but this definitely seems to be their creation as frontline director and writer and they've undoubtedly done a very commendable job given their experiences. The drama isn't something very wowish but it was surely a decent watch even when you're not into makjangs. The direction was up to par, starting from screenplay management, synchronising various time scales, screen-editing were taken care of very well. The pacing wasn't consistent after 10th episode, still manageable. The cinematography was surely good; the dark yet flashy pallettes with momentary yellow as well as natural delineations were persuading. The writing was lacking, it was a good plot but progression was not well executed. But given that both the director and writer have debuted through this, this is quite well-delivered, no?

OSTs are composed by Kim Jong Chun and I must say all of them are catchy and captivating at the same time. There are total 7 tracks. My most favourite is "Hello' by Hickee which is the main theme song and is very intriguing. It followed by "Heaven Made" by Elsie Bay which was soothing and tragic at the same time, demanding escape towards happiness. The vocals of Ha Domg Qn in "Cry me a river" gave me goosebumps. "Fallin' by HARU, "just myself" by Kim Dong Hee, "Why i cry" Sin Ye Young and "Tears" by Onestar are the other ones which are quite likable and beautifully written as well as composed.

What I liked...

# Despite having a typical story, the screenplay was engaging and entertaining.

# The performance from the main cast was stupendous as they're old and immensely experienced, except Chan Sung and So Min. Well, they weren't that good but did a decent delivery.

# The drama not being a complete makjang. The simultaneous power fight was intriguing tho that plot went downhill and became repetitive in the 2nd half

# The kids not being typical makjang stupidass spoiled brats.

# The portrayal of present scenario in the beginning and ending of each episode and using it to unfold the past through detailed storytelling.

What I didn't like...

# So many unnecessary supporting characters as fillers and their extended scenes just to fill the 16 eps quota.

# The decent plot development that goes downhill starting from 10th episode. The pacing was still okay yet repetitive. They had many instances to finish the drama with a clear-cut ending, but duh!

# Underutilization of Chan Sung and Seung Soo. Their characters didn't have the impressive dynamics that I was expecting. Chang Sung is improving with dramas but Seung Soo is more than just skilled.

# Not to spoil, the thing involving both Jungwon and Mira could have lasted longer with some stirring outcomes but it felt like there was no need if it were gonna be that simple.

# So many kisses, haha. I'm not genophobic or against inclusion of explicit contents but the first half of the show has so many unnecessary making out scenes.

Final remarks.... Show Window 2021-22 isn't really a good show with intriguing plot, star-studded cast and amazing execution but given it's genre, for me, it was an enjoyable and entertaining watch with fabulous performance though the final delivery was average and wasn't pleasing. A fair one time watch.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Spring of Youth
28 people found this review helpful
Jul 3, 2025
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 4.5
Acting/Cast 3.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Beautiful Visuals, Empty Story: A Drama That Falls Flat

When I saw the poster and everything, I had pretty high expectations. The visuals were great, but the acting, on the other hand, was a mess.

The female lead was just an empty character. She barely did anything throughout the show and mostly just stared at everyone with teary eyes.

The male lead’s acting was over the top, almost as if he was trying to make up for the female lead’s lack of personality, but it didn’t work well at all.

The show seemed like it would be about music and artistic themes, but it ended up being focused almost entirely on solving the murder case of Bom’s mother. The main “villains” were supposedly trying to keep the leads apart to stop the truth from coming out, but it was so poorly executed and felt completely unnecessary.

The romance was practically nonexistent, maybe a little in episode 4, but later on they just forgot about it. Also, they had no chemistry. Like, none at all.

And the ending? A total mess. What do you mean you see someone after two years, kiss them, and that’s it, happy ending, yay 😀? It was beyond unrealistic.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Midnight Sun
28 people found this review helpful
Oct 13, 2011
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
I wish I could complain about this movie. Ok wait, i don't. This movie was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!



Story: 10/10 The story is one that will motivate you while tears stream down your eyes. It has themes of "High School" romance mixed in with following your dreams to the very end.



Cast/Acting 10/10 I couldn't ask for a better cast. They truly did a flawless job.



Music: 10/10 I still listen to the theme song by Yui (who also acted in this movie) two weeks after I watched the movie. The only "downside" about this movie is that you get addicted to the wonderful music by Yui.



Rewatch Value: 9/10 This is such a beautiful movie that I would definitely rewatch.



Overall 10/10 (i'd give it a 15/10 if I could!). Definitely watch this movie. You won't regret it.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Dear Herbal Lord
28 people found this review helpful
Aug 19, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

sweet fun romance

I initially started this one on a whim since I was looking for fluffy romance dramas to indulge in and decided to give this one a try, and thank goodness I did. Dear Herbal Lord is a fun little drama (24 half hour episodes split into 2 seasons, 12 eps per season) following herb fairy Song Lan as she tries to woo the king of medicine Chu Zhimo into marrying her, fulfilling the wish of Jiang Qingyun, the host of the body that she now resides in.

Like I said before, this drama is fairly short compared to other normal dramas (25+ eps with each episode averaging an hour) so the story is very fast paced, which is a good thing since there's no room for filler and unnecessary drama. There will be scenes that are a little confusing at first but they're quickly explained afterwards. Again, it's a short drama focused on romance so I'm not too critical of the story's logic.

The crux of the drama, the romance, is tooth rottingly sweet. Song Lan has an innocent air to her (mostly because as an herb fairy, she's never interacted with humans before inhabiting Jiang Qingyun's body), so she is very blunt and bold about showing Chu Zhimo her affections. Pair the unintentionally flirty Song Lan with cold-faced Chu Zhimo who is terrible with women, this is a hilarious pair and I have squealed at (and replayed) their scenes too many times to count. Special mention to Yan Xi for showing us that a cold and standoffish male lead doesn't mean being expressionless and being angry all the time!

To move the story forward, there will be angst, just to warn anybody who only wanted the fluff. To be precise, it's more of a dash of angst, a splash of noble stupidity but a truckload of dramatic irony (the audience knows everything but the characters do not). You will want to grab your screen and scream at characters that they're making a mistake, but you can't even hate them because from their perspective... they actually have a point. It does end happily, I can guarantee you that, so just trust the process ;)

Leaving a small blurb about my favourite character, Xiao Ziming. Add him to the ever-growing list of Second Leads That Deserve Better because he is so sweet and devoted to our female lead. Even though Song Lan/Jiang Qingyun is infatuated with Chu Zhimo, he still stays by her side and cheers her up when she's sad. Where can I find my Xiao Ziming in real life??

To end this off, I definitely recommend Dear Herbal Lord if you're looking for a light and sweet romance drama. Nothing convoluted, just Fluff (also the kiss scenes called me single in 520 different languages ;_; ).

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?