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The plot is quite ridiculous honestly. It makes little or no sense. However, the cast is lovely and the main actress played her role quite well. I have seen her works previously and trust me, she has improved immensely here. This was a drama for me in which I stopped caring about the romance after midway. The murder mystery and villain was what it was all about! The villain is damn good and it helps that he was so, so attractive to look at. :D
This drama had some high-riding moments where you'd wonder who did what and why. A lot of things were wonderfully executed. For me this drama was a solid 9-9.5 till the last four episodes where things happened out of the blue.
This drama is no different from any other Kdrama because like every drama out there, it starts out with a bang and ends leading upto nowhere.
The OST was nice to listen to. It wasn't my favourite but it wasn't bad either.
I recommend this drama to people who don't mind mindless fun. Watch the first couple of episodes to judge if you like it or not.
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If ghost stories lie within your watching preferences, perhaps you would have a better time with Hotel Del Luna. As for myself, I was not a fan of the overall plot. It came off as a tad too shallow. For one, there’s a severe imbalance between plot filler (which is how I classify every individual ghost’s story, each of which occupies 80% of each episode) and the truly interesting main plot, which falls off to the wayside. Unless you enjoy brief appearances of random guest ghosts, you’ll probably end up like me: sitting through over an hour’s worth of time per episode, helplessly asking when the Hong Sisters will address Man Wol’s story—which is rarely, until you cross the halfway point of the entire show. What the writers do with Man Wol’s history when it is addressed feels lackluster, if only due to all the unnecessary time buildup prior to it.
The real problem is that we are hardly given reasons to care about each visiting ghost in any major emotional capacity. Although they have interesting stories, it’s a bit like walking down a city sidewalk: you see someone with a pretty wardrobe, “ooh” at it for a second, and then forget your appreciative impressions of it an hour later. Maybe it seems as if I’m being coldhearted, but as much as the Hong Sisters try to emphasize that these ghosts were human with human sufferings, the way the show frequently relies on shock value and horror elements over the ghosts’ pain and healing resulted in me not being able to build true sympathy for these souls. Imagine repeating this apathy for every episode: it’s exhausting trying to force an emotional connection.
The only saving grace of Hotel Del Luna is Man Wol. The way IU presents her character’s conflicting ego and heart is as poignant as it is mysterious, and she executes the identity of a CEO with a low economic IQ with hilarity. Had it not been for this quirkiness of Man Wol’s character, I would not have stuck around until the end. And that’s despite my love for Yeo Jin Goo: though his acting is excellent as always, Chan Sung is a perfect example of a supporting character who hides behind the guise of being a “main character.” There’s only one protagonist in this story, her name being Man Wol. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it is a bit of a letdown that everyone else has the potential to be equally interesting, yet doesn’t get nearly enough development. Chan Sung, for example, is a nobody—beyond pushing Man Wol to address her emotional wounds, he doesn’t possess the individualism that a lead character should have. This means that while the interactions between him and Man Wol may be compelling to watch, the moment that you isolate Chan Sung away from her, he devolves into a character who’s mediocre at best and painfully boring at worst. Seeing as I view Chan Sung like this, that should give you a pretty good idea of what I think of the other supporting characters: meh.
That all being said, I can see the reasons behind the hype. I just wouldn’t say that they’re justified: gorgeous cinematography, a cast list riddled with famous names, and an amazing soundtrack are all great assets to have within a drama. If future shows could continue Hotel Del Luna’s ability to create an effective atmosphere, I would have zero complaints. But what use is all of that if the show at its core doesn’t match up to the level of its decorations? Hotel Del Luna is almost sadly entertaining in that it may be fun in the moment, but doesn’t leave a deep enough impression to be phenomenal.
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"She'll thrive, and through her a family will endure."
In her 2007 novel “The Sweet Far Thing”, Libba Bray has says, “There is an ancient tribal proverb I once heard in India. It says that before we can see properly we must first shed our tears to clear the way.” Indeed, our past is what holds us back from things that we wish to accomplish, but what matters is how we learn, acknowledge and grow as better human beings from it. We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the entire. There is no beauty in sadness, no honour in suffering, no growth in fear and no relief in hate; it’s just a waste of perfectly good happiness. “Pachinko” depicts all that through the saga of a family over generations."Pachinko (パチンコ)" is a Japanese gambling device resembling a pinball machine but with automatic payoff as in a gambling slot machine (merriam-webster). Pachinko parlors are widespread in Japan, and, mostly owned by Korean immigrants, and usually also feature a number of slot machines so these premises resemble and operate similarly to western casinos. Modern pachinko machines have both mechanical & digital components. As stated by the writer, Pachinko, in the show, is depicted as a metaphor to life, when it's very unfair to go ahead, but you still continue to play, because you can't turn back or give up either. Pachinko is a game of chance and survival, both figuratively and literally.
Created by Soo Hugh and co-directed by Justin Chon & Kogonada, "Pachinko (2022) is an American show from Apple TV+, adapted from the original book of the same title authored by prominent Korean-American writer Lee Min Jin, released in 2017. Co-produced by 3 companies: Media Res, A Han.Bok Dream and Blue Marble Pictures, it's a 4 year long project, that started with Apple Inc. acquiring the bid for the series in 2018. The production took 7 months for casting and all of the cast were in fact auditioned and chosen, as informe by the team. The filimng started in October 2020, and was done in different phases, at different locations, and in fact different countries (South Korea, Japan, USA and Canada), that ended in April 2021. Reportedly, the showrunner Hugh has the objective of creating 4 seasons in total, which gives us the idea that the show we just finished is apparently one-fourth of the original novel.
"Pachinko (2022)" follows the mettlesome multigenerational chronicle of a single family, in parallel, who are immigrants of Japanese invasion & colonization in Korea. Their pursuit for survival and happiness, with hopes & dreams have led them to prosper and thrive over decades though their foregone days of sufferings and scars from the past remain fresh in their hearts. The show presents stories from different timelines from 1910 to 1989.
Kim Sun Ja (later Baek Sun Ja/Bando Nobuko) is played by 3 actors: Jeon Yu-na (childhood), Kim Min Ha (teeange), Youn Yuh Jung (Old), whom the author keeps at the centre of everything that takes place throughout. Steven Noh plays Pastor Baek Yi Sak (Sun Ja's husband) while Soji Arai (Korean name: Park So Hee) is in the role of Baek Mo Se/Bando Mozasu (Sun Ja's son) and Jung In Ji takes part as Yang Jin (Sunja’s mother). Ko Han Su (Lee Min Ho) is a cold-hearted fishmonger with a dark past and plays an important fuelling factor that impacts Sunja’s life. Baek Yo Seb (Han Joon Woo) and Choi/Baek Kyung Hee (Jung Eun Chae) are brother & sister-in law of Sunja, respectively. Baek Solomon (adult: Jin Ha and young: Yoon Kyung Ho) is Sunja’s grandson from Mozasu, who is an efficient employee in a top corporate bank in New York. Etsuko (Kaho Minami) is Mozasu’s girlfriend whereas Naomi (Anna Sawai) is Solomon’s collegue.
The opening was the highlight of the TV series and definitely a favourite. While looking at the opening credits, it’s unclear whether this is a Korean, Japanese or Western drama; the main cast members gathered in a scintillating & evocatively coloured pachinko parlour as if it were a paradise, dancing to "Let's Live for Today" by The Grass Roots. This is the only time the actors from different timelines intersect, which was mainly due to Hugh’s love for opening credits.
“A child is coming. This one will thrive, I assure you. And through her, a family will endure.” : describing the birth of Sunja, the central character, this line epitomizes the pneuma of Pachinko’s premiere. In contrast to the book, which is ordered chronologically from the 1930s to the late 1980s, the filmmakers of this series made a bold change. The nonlinear construction of time in the series jumps between past and present.
“Pachinko” tells us a spellbinding story of colonialism & subcultural nationalism, war & peace, love & loss, and victory & sorrow, exclusively from a meta-historical human perspective. The historical accuracy and the detailed representation of adversities experienced by the people of Korea, due to the brutal consequences of a ruler's greed, is of immense value and definitely deserve all the noble words that exist in the world. From making aware the contemporary generation about their history to generating nostalgia & cognizance in viewers by enabling them to look back and consider the affinities between realities of different times, Pachinko does all that, if not more.
Enumeration of Sunja’s journey particularly feels nostalgic yet melancholic as it serves as a reminder of the wartime and post-war stories of 1st generation Koreans and their descendants. The nuance of these memories, however, forces us to acknowledge what they’d, in truth, gone through in the course of history and how it affects the current Zainichi Korean generation. It also shows us how resilient and strong people can be despite what life throws at them. Though the cornerstone essence of the story remains the same, adapting it into live-action demanded some changes, and these changes are brought forward from the development of the series; you can clearly experience it if you have read the book already.
In "Pachinko," the representation of Solomon goes with the complicated colonial history his grandmother navigated first-hand and the reverberations of which he continues to grapple with as an adult. This also captures his links with the Korean heritage, and both challenges and intertwines with his Japanese upbringing. Indeed, Solomon is the 2nd most focused character in the drama, for the latest time period portrays the saga of him trying his best to become a corporate slave, while his links with the foregone history of his family’s sufferings hold him back and enables him to make decisions, unsuitable for his career and his ambitions.
“Pachinko” is magnificently and aesthetically recountable, particularly while illustrating 1910s Korea. Shots filled with dusty hanboks of the Koreans and pristine uniforms of the Japanese are entirely accurate to their time period. The show is filled with panoramic landscape shots of golden grain fields, dense yet bright forests, diaphanous water bodies and inky oceans. The opaque and uncanny fish market and dark-timbered boarding house are fascinating to extents. The combination of both pitch & pale hue, with varied compelling colour palettes, provides immense pleasure to the viewers and its enormous production values which has resulted in stupefying cinematic values, can be witnessed and heartfelt, from the very beginning of the show. The camera beautifully captures the vast sea separating two countries: Korea and Japan, and their highrises, with the movements remaining easy on the eye. The meticulous set designing, development of premise and eventually bringing them to life, have paid off.
The use of sound and language is also beguiling and bewitching. The use of the comoosed sounds and themes in “Pachinko” is perhaps the most heart-felt since they possess the power that enables the viewers to connect to different time periods, accurately. Various instrumentals composed bring about the souls of the essential contexts that the author and makers have attempted to project upon the audience. Sometimes it pulls the heartstrings to levels, but for most of its parts, the background scores are caliginous, shadows, weighty and substantial.
Reportedly, Hugh also took care of the character outlooks in an effort of using beauty im order to create a timeless period piece. The extensive studies with collection of photographs and clips of the contemporary time was a great help for illustrating appropriate hairstyle and makeup; starting from looks to attires, everything was developed with sincere attention which is obviously reflected in the show.
“Pachinko” offers us a reality check on the assumption that the age of globalization may make life easier. It shows how globalization can also push us further away from our roots and ancestors. This story is truly extraordinary and unique, and one that should not be watched as a typical migration story. In “Pachinko,” identity is not defined in terms of binary codes. Each story is different, and each individual is different in spite of their shared historical experience. This has enabled Hugh to go for a standalone episode, portraying the life of Hansu, through a terrifyingly real incident. Hugh’s research also led her to the Kantō earthquake, which hit the Tokyo-Yokahama area on September 1, 1923, with the magnitude of 7.9. The impact of the disaster was massive, with a death toll of aprox. 140,000. What stimulated as a consequence, was the spread of rumours about the Korean immigrants adding to the destruction and trying to overpower Japanese, turning them to scapegoats, which led to massacres, which was unforeseen and heart-wretching. According to several unanimous reports, an estimate of 6,000 Koreans were killed as a result. Nevertheless, Lee Min Ho gives the best of his career in this and honestly it's the first time I liked his acting, he has improved, indeed.
I think I have already thrown light upon the direction and related tasks throughout, in my piece, like sound editing, cinematography, setup design as well as composing, etc. The directors Justin Chon & Kogonada have done their job with great care and their efforts are visible. The rest members of the team should also be credited their due words of appreciation. Congratulations of creating a masterpiece.
Writing the show, for Hugh, hasn’t been just about bringing the epic of the Zainichi family onto the screen, exceedingly, she has attempted to a great deal to showcase their thorough experiences & emotions in accuracy and get the facts right. Her immense research and fact-checking has also enabled her to get her script reviewed by 20 or more historians, including those specializing in Japanese history, Korean history, and colonization. Its notable that their opinions and voices were unanimous and this has surely helped to elevate the quality.
Exceptionally, in the finale, the opening credit is performed by the Korean pop Pansori (traditional) band LEENALCHI, which recreates the same song by modifying the lyrics with Hangul.
My most favourite quote from the show is:
"Even if you're scared, let's be scared together. If we do that, won't we gain some strength?"
You must look forward to the ending of the finale episode, for it shows us the interviews from several Zainichi Korean Women, currently residing in Japan and their stories of suffering, tolerance, resilience and resistance. The 5 minutes long edited clip is enough to move your heart and make you cry.
Final Remarks... Pachinko is a brilliant tribute to the resilience & forbearance of survivors from an era of oppression on small lands, that was not often discussed, previously. It is a very complex part of history which ties in with one of the best shows to have been brought to life. The grandeur of Pachinko is, in many ways and on many levels, a reminder of how time can affect our lives. It sort of redefines the standard of a story that can move millions of hearts. Pachinko is the life-altering story that should have been brought to screen much earlier. Please go ahead :)
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Sci-fi or birthing campaign?
Food analogy: plastic plateI follow Lee min Ho's cinematography byheart ( bcoz city hunter was my first kdrama, i. e emotional attachment) but i don't think he read this script.
The story is made of loopholes with very little plot in it. The pacing so slow that I was praying for a 2.0x button from netflix. The first episode was still tolerable, but the characters made it impossible to root for them.
Somehow, what I hated the most was that the moment eve got pregnant, all her value for her life, the amazing career that she had created, everything got overshadowed. It was like she became a heavenly creature the moment she decided to give birth, even after knowing that it will potentially kill her. The way these kinds of sacrifices are glorified are severely unhealthy, as if women loose value if they choose not to give birth.
The music was ok but i couldn't enjoy it because i felt like i was wasting my time.
I never thought i would say this but somehow min ho's acting detoriated as the series went on. It was like he stopped trying. Somehow, everyone felt very unserious and loose with what could actually be.
There is like no redeeming quality in this series, better scroll social media.
Ps: How the baby survived the launch in her belly is beyond me.
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This review may contain spoilers
I felt more frustration than "love" unfortunately
*UPDATE: Finale was a big MEH for me as predicted. Sad Panda.*I will likely come back and update this once the final episode air.
SO, the acting is wonderful. I love the characters and the storyline and this is definitely one of the steamiest shows on Viki. I love everything this show could have possibly been. I still love the show but feel more frustration than "love" a lot of the times which is why I'm giving it 7 stars instead of 10 for right now.
My issues:
1. For a drama romance to work, there has to be a bit "more" to keep the main characters apart. In my personal opinion, after 10 episodes, the "why not" just isn't there and it drags the entire storyline down in a major way.
2. The Chu Kehuan's ex is a bit of a one-dimensional & psychotic/dependent/weak character on ALL levels and it makes her whole storyline aggravating to watch. Since they also keep shoving her in our face as a "reason" the main character's don't just get together already, it makes episodes painful to watch and honestly, cringe-worthy. When she keeps repeating the same shit over and over again about "10 year relationship" and "but I love you" and so on. So. Painful. Already.
3. Speaking of #2 above, we all know from little hints that she has some hidden secret of WHY she got an abortion all those years ago and broke her man's trust in their relationship, but IF & WHEN she finally reveals it... do we even CARE??? No. No we do not, so that plot point is null and void and won't make any impact on us as viewers because she's a douche and we couldn't care less at this point.
4. ZWW's ex, 321. He might be CLUELESS and a bit of a bore AND he has 0 skills when it comes to knowing what a woman thinks, and so on, BUT I feel like the writers turn him into a bit of a manipulating, violent ASSHAT in a single episode because they didn't know what else to do to vindicate ZWW's decision (as if she needed any other reasons) AND to keep the plot moving along with drama thrown in for good measure in nearly the last episode. Now, with ONLY TWO episodes left and the previews showing 321 still showing his ass in the next episode, well, I don't foresee us getting MUCH actual ROMANCE/happiness between ZWW and Chu Kehuan that we've all been anticipating with bated breath.
OK... I have more issues with the show than I realized. And, sadly, I'm only watching the last episode because I love the actors and have invested way too much time NOT to see the ending. :/
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Friends, being too forgiving only makes you more attractive to the kinds of men who mistreat women and therefore need to be forgiven a lot.
Content Warning: contains a sexual assault scene while the female lead is unconscious. The assaulter is forgiven instantly and never truly held accountable.
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WHAT EVEN WAS THIS?
Fun first act, trainwreck second act, saved only by the pretty people.You know what’s worse than a bad drama? A drama that could have been fun but decided to trip over its own feet halfway through. The First Night with the Duke started off like a cheeky, isekai-flavored romcom with a modern girl stirring up Joseon life (cocktail bombs! bold flirting! brains and sass!). And then… it forgot all that and wandered off into fifteen other genres.
By the end, I honestly didn’t know what I was watching. Romcom? Political sageuk? Magical fantasy? Tragedy with evil kings and sad childhood backstories? Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t cohesive.
Taecyeon did what Taecyeon does best: looked great in hanbok, swung a sword like he meant it, and oozed just enough charm to make you forget the script was falling apart. The female lead? She started strong as modern, clever, unbothered by all the prim-and-proper nonsense. But the second half turned her into a crying, rescue-me prop. Where did my bold heroine go? Did she swap souls with some other boring court lady when I wasn’t looking?
Let’s talk about that plot. The three brothers? Wasted. The second male lead? Might as well have been written out, only to reappear in the last five minutes like, “Surprise! I exist!” Eun-ae’s arc? Nonsensical, she did terrible things and got a happy ending anyway, no redemption needed, apparently. And don’t even get me started on the “OG” heroine slipping into modern life like she’s been shopping at Zara her whole existence. Computers, short skirts, and WiFi? No problem, she’s basically Gen Z now!
And then, twelve kids. TWELVE. KIDS. Look, I know it was meant to be “haha, cute, happy ending,” but all I could think was, “Girl, blink twice if you need help.”
If this show had leaned into being a silly, self-aware fusion sageuk, I would have rolled with it. If it had gone full romcom? Fun. But it wanted to do everything and ended up doing nothing. No theme, no proper character growth, no payoff for the chaos it created. It was like watching someone throw darts at three different boards and hitting none.
Watch it for the leads if you’re curious, or for Taecyeon looking devastatingly good with a sword. But don’t expect sense, consistency, or a satisfying ending. By episode 11, I was hate-watching just to see how much wilder it could get.
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1This review may contain spoilers
fun little fantasy romance
I liked the chemistry between the two lead actors. I liked the fantasy aspect. I'm not one to deeply analyze a program. This to me has a feel good vibe and I'm liking it. Others have criticized this program for being shallow. Is it predictable where the story is going? yes but I'm fine with that and I'm enjoying it. Sometimes it is okay to turn off your mind and have a fun story to watch and this series is one of those.The thing about the port keys and dreams could have been better but I'm okay with it , I think it would be nice it they had some time clues on how long the main characters have been in the alternate universe . Not until episode 9 do you a definite time sense because in that episode they have a 1 yr anniversary party for Friend Credits.
I liked that they didn't make the first movie they made a success. it was be interesting to see where things went from there. There was a little foreshadowing in episode 5 with the gentleman that came back after 5 years to find his life destroyed. I liked how that played a part after Talay returns to the main universe. I liked it when Talay and Puen meet in the main universe again and there was a reference to a scene from episode 2. I liked how it had a happy ending and you also got to see what was happening in the other universe. I was satisfied with the ending. In episode 12 be sure to watch the "Anywhere with Lays" segment after the credits roll. Not to spoil anything but you'll want to watch it. It makes the ending a little more satisfying.
Overall I really liked the series and If you are not an analytical person I would recommend it .
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Absolutely Beautiful
I LOVED this series! I know unrequited love is very common in BL’s, but this one just hit different! And the actors!! Not only did they do a PHENOMENAL job, they are HOOTTT!!! Like, seriously. Super hot. My new BL bias is YU!!! (Sorry Mew and Saint!) Zhou Shu Yi (YU) and Gao Shi De’s (Sam Lin) chemistry is off the charts in this series! The pacing was absolutely perfect, not too slow, not too rushed. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I won’t get into the specifics of the plot. This series is about a boy who has been secretly in love with another boy for years, and even instigates a love/hate relationship just to be close to him. Pretty bold move! The chemistry is FIRE, while also managing to be super sweet, soft, and cute. Sometimes in the same scene!! This series is REALLY well made, the storyline is awesome, the actors are phenomenal, and it has that perfect mix of sizzle and sweet! I DEFINITELY recommend watching this series! Seriously. It’s epic.Was this review helpful to you?
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1This review may contain spoilers
"Your hand touching mine. This is how galaxies collide.”
One of the best Korean BL drama with super charming characters . A super healthy storyline .OVERVIEW - Do Hoe , a brilliant student who grown in a brutal and abnormal atmosphere without his parents love and care . He never felt happiness in his life like other children but suddenly he met Ju Yeong who carried the light of his love in Do Hoe's life .
POSITIVE - Super handsome and soft hearted ML with charming and cute MC . Their chemistry is unbeatable . The way they always stand side by side in each other's trouble really makes my heart melt .
The visuals , cinematography are awesome . Really felt like I was watching a high budget drama . Smiles of both ML and MC are heartwarming . The ice cream and rain scene in ep 1 were definitely romantic .Tiny slow music when they did eye contact ...ah it's ear candy .
NEGATIVE- I haven't found any negative points yet .
OVERALL- People who like to watch healthy, slow burn romance dramas then they can try it . It's really so good.
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As a European, single, career woman in my 30's I have come to expect certain things from my life and people around me.
1. Respect from colleagues for all the hard work I put in
2. Understanding that the hard work has left little room for dating
3. Evenings spent watching dramas because of the aforementioned hard work and singlehood
I started watching "The woman who still wants to marry" because I heard it was going to feature single career women in their 30's and noona-love...
Finally!, I thought. Women I can relate to.
And who doesn't like the added bonus of bit of escapism, in the form of gorgeous young men falling for older women? Yum!
Boy, was I in for a rude awakening.
I'm not oblivious to the fact that, in Korea and Japan, unmarried women over the age of 25 are considered "Christmas Cake". Something that goes bad after the 25th. (Horrible expression btw. Just horrible!)
The previous noona-love dramas I've seen have mostly focused on the woman's inner struggle. Angst and denial of her unsuitable feelings, and so on.
She may have gotten sideways glances while flaunting her young lover publically. But that's about it.
Never mind that this would never happen in real life. Drama magic and suspension of disbelief achieved. Squeee!
In "The woman who still wants to marry", however, our two noonas are bombarded by hair-raising amounts of malicious gossip, disapproving parents and disrespectful colleagues.
The amount of shit that these poor women have to put up with is really disheartening.
If this piece of drama fiction is any reflection on how smart and driven women are treated in Korea... then I have found a whole new level of understanding for all those older and successful über-bitches we tend to see as villains in dramas. No wonder they'd eventually become cold as ice - if this is how they've been treated since their 30's.
While the romance is a big part of this drama. (Two lovely noona-love stories, no less.) The adversities these women face, simply because of their age and ambition, leave such a bitter after taste that it many times overshadows the sweetness of the romance.
I would ask someone who is considering watching this these 3 questions:
1. Are you under 30?
2. Is seeing Kim Bum fall in love pretty much your sole motivation for watching?
3. Do you normally not have problems suspending disbelief when it comes to ill treatment of women?
If your answer to the above questions is a resounding "Yes", then you'll probably enjoy this drama.
If your answer is "No", then you may want to look elsewhere for your escapist drama fix... or at least watch with an awareness of these issues.
I don't regret watching this drama. If for nothing else; Kim Bum pulls off one of the best "grand gesture"-scenes in recent memory. I finally get why women swoon over him now. I do.
It does make me sad though - to think that there are places in the world where it doesn't matter how hard you work to prove yourself. If you are a woman and over 30; you are supposed... no, demanded!... to give up your job and become a stay at home mom. Whether that life appeals, fulfills or excites you in the slightest. That's your duty.
Even if you marry Kim Bum - it would be nice to know you have a choice. Right?
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one of the best m/m couples of all time, watch this!!!
Overall: it's important to know that this is a Thai lakorn i.e. soap opera. So there is a lot of family drama, exaggerated acting and a bunch of content warnings. It has one of the best m/m couples with amazing chemistry and my main complaint is we didn't get more screen time with them. I could write essays on several of the main characters because they had reasons for what they did even if I didn't agree with their actions. Watched on One31's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXopbKxiivxpBd7rbwDldPMmtdoclonyk updated 2024: Jam & Film were leads again in "Laws of Attraction" however, they stated that they would not be romantic leads together againContent Warnings: multiple murders, attempted murder, homophobia, slaps/beaten up/violence, blood, corporal punishment, manipulation, drugging, kidnapping, self harm, suicidal ideation, unwanted outing, and there is a maaajjjjor content warning towards the beginning of episode 1 that is a spoiler and I listed it in the comments
What I Liked
- the half brothers' relationship is my favorite fictional sibling relationship of all time (10/10)
- the m/m couple is one of my all time favorite m/m couples, they have amazing chemistry (10/10)
- there is some really great communication and misunderstandings don't drag on forever
- one of the only times where a character (Jiu) makes a promise and works extremely hard to keep that promise
- the women have major agency, I didn't always agree with their actions but they got sh*t done
- Pin could have been a stereotypical passive female character but was not, and I really enjoyed her character
- the martial arts/fighting scenes were fun to watch
- clear on when the series takes place (starts in 1931 and then a 12 year time jump so 1943); also enjoyed the historical setting
- understandable actions for most of the villains
- Tian dad's character arc
Room For Improvement
- the m/m romance needed waaayyy more screen time (they get only about 5 to 15 minutes per episode out of 1hr+)
- the initial drama dragged on too long, I was hoping for more plot twists and drama to pop up, it really improved at episode 7
- the exaggerated acting from some of the characters was not my thing, it got better towards the end
- the screaming from multiple characters
- lower budget, like with that cgi and the magical glitter
- unrealistic (talking during the major content warning, how a wild animal would behave), I didn't really deduct that much for unrealistic stuff because it's kind of part of the soap opera genre
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This review may contain spoilers
***May contain spoilers***I love this movie, cute, lovely, bittersweet, relatable, all rolled into one. I love movies that talks about the reality of loving someone and yet having a dreams and this two conflicts each other and that you have to choose one and regretting at the end. I love the two leads, the acting sre excellent. You can see the transitions as they grow and mature. What makes this a beautiful, is that how the storytelling is just honestly being told. I cried, it is sad, it's painful. God, I feel them, the love in the family is so real!
We really need to constantly remind ourselves that we need to express and demonstrate our love and care to the people we love. This movie just provided a realization that we need to express our love no matter how. The additional scenes of real people saying all kinds of emotions that they cannot tell to their loved ones or lost love, I am just having goosebumps.
Great movie to watch. Soundtracks is excellent especially at the end. Highly recommended.
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This review may contain spoilers
In the past year the BL community has had the odd experience of three expensively-produced BL productions reaching their final few episodes only to collapse under their own aspirations, angering viewers and overshadowing all of the elements that they might have gotten right. In all three instances it can be said that these series (HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count, 2gether, and The Shipper) were trying to do something "different" with the BL genre. For 2gether, the intent was to reach a more global and conservative audience by toning down the gay aspects of Boys Love and replacing them with bromance. For HIStory 3: MODC and The Shipper, the directors aspired to transcend the BL genre and deliver something more realistic and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, the way both of these series did it was by killing off a beloved main character.
For me, a main character's death is as inappropriate in a BL production as a high-kicking chorus line would be in a production of King Lear. In the case of The Shipper, an artful story was already being told very well, and the series actually did seem to be transcending the genre. So many commenters on the MDL page have mentioned how the body-swapping theme sounded unpromising at first, but after giving the series a try they found that it played exceptionally well. Why, then, did the series end up killing off one of the main characters, even before they'd had a chance to actually be in a relationship with their partner?
I still have yet to learn how Kim's death in The Shipper served the themes of the series. At least in the case of MODC, the director had a theme that she wanted to promote ("make sure you cherish every moment with the person you love because you don't know when they'll be gone"). Attaching such a theme to a BL series proved to be a mistake, but she had her reasons.
For The Shipper, the character death seems gratuitous because its theme about ships, shippers, and the people being shipped doesn't need for anyone to die in order to get its point across. (Plus there's that tease about a sequel in the very last moments of the final episode. If Kim can live on in a sequel then why not in the original?)
Now, I've seen where because the main character of The Shipper is Pan and the "real" Kim has limited screen time, people have said that the series doesn't qualify as BL. Pan's journey, though, is mainly about discovering who the real Kim is, and as she learns more about him the viewers learn along with her and their affection for him deepens. By the time she hits the paydirt that yes, Kim and Way have a relationship that goes beyond friendship, we've become completely invested in that pairing. We're in it to win it! We thrill over Way's epiphany that he actually loves Kim, then get even more excited over the proof that Kim also loved Way, and from that point on Kim has become as important to the series as any of the main characters who've had more screen time.
How sad, then, that none of these revelations can ever get acted on or rewarded because one of the boys turns out to be dead. We discover that what's been served up is a full-blown BL storyline but with a tragic ending. And if anything doesn't belong in a BL storyline, it's tragedy.
It must be said, too, that the longer Pan stays in Kim's body the less appealing she becomes as a character, deciding to intervene with the people in Kim's life to make sure they know that he's actually not a good person. At one point I became disgusted by her judgmental attitude and smug sense of superiority. I'm not convinced that she ever truly lived that down, thus weakening her standing as a main character that people can sympathize with completely. In this regard Way is the much better person, and all the more deserving of the happy ending that the series squanders on Pan.
It also bothers me that the hetero-normative couple gets the happy ending while the m/m couple gets the dead boyfriend. Back in the 1950's, death was in store for most gay characters because the morality of that era demanded that they meet a tragic fate. In this sense The Shipper is terribly unenlightened and regressive. It would have been so easy to give both the m/f and m/m couples a happy ever after, and it would have more effectively communicated how every kind of love deserves nurturing and respect.
A happy ending for all would also have been befitting the BL theme of the series.
I would have liked to listen in while the creative team for The Shipper worked on the storyboards and reached the decision that Kim would be killed off. What the heck were they thinking? They obviously misread their audience in a fundamental way, and I can only hope that GMMTV takes heed of misfires like The Shipper when they hire the next production company to mount a BL series.
In about three months I plan to do an experiment where I'll approach a few BL fans at random and ask them what they remember most about The Shipper. I think I know what the answer will be. In the meantime I'll be checking in with The Shipper's MDL page every now and then to see how many comments are NOT about the crappy ending. (Not many, I bet.)
This is the danger of messing with a genre that people absolutely love. But, after what amounts to three disastrous decisions in three expensively produced series, I'm starting to wonder if anyone in charge really cares.
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