Reviews

Perfect and delicious !

This is just perfect! Great acting, great story and great music! How can a drama be so good? I am totally hooked. I love the witch's sadness and humanity, Jin's emotiveness and blunderry part, the male lead sens of justice and kindness, the leads are great and so are the second roles too. It describes very well problems in korean (and modern) society and how our choices can impact our lives. There is also romance and all comes naturally. It's definitely not a fairy tale but a deep magical prospect of the world. Come and eat in the Witch's Diner! For me, the 2021 best drama !

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look cool and say poems

Both Zhao Lusi and Yang Yang are very good looking in their ancient costumes. The fight scenes in this drama are pretty good, the budget of the series was not lacking. But that's about it. This starts off almost like an exact copy of the story of Shan He Ling, but at least that had an OK first half. Here, two people who just happen to be the top martial artists in The World travel the jianghu both trying to sacrifice their lives for the other person, and a cast of side characters for the most part sigh over how perfect and wonderful they are. The villains are basically just straw men and the plot seems to have been sacrificed to help the leads look cool and say poems.

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"I'm a drifter, the man from Tokyo"

If you want a good example of a highly stylized film, Tokyo Drifter fits the bill. With its vibrant Crayon coloring, stagey architecture, and jazzy theme song sung and whistled by various characters throughout the film, it's more of a hypnotic experience than yakuza story.

When Tetsu and his boss Kurata attempt to go straight, the Otsuka gang works to bring them down by ruining a real estate deal Kurata is orchestrating. Three murders later, Tetsu is forced to go on the run or drift until the heat is off. Otsuka's hitman "The Viper" is always close on his tail. Tetsu evades him across Japan with the help of "Shootin' Star," another drifter who warns him that Kurata may betray him. One character observes, "It's hard to handle a man like that once he gets good and mad." Director Suzuki rewarded the audience with Tetsu finally becoming the hurricane he was renowned for being. The film ends predictably in Tokyo for predictable reasons, but the trip there made the ride worthwhile.

Suzuki edited the film in such a way that there were times I wasn't sure what happened. He could make it challenging to keep up, especially in the snowy battles in northern Japan or during a dreamlike fight on a snowy train track. You never knew what to expect, there was even a bar room brawl, of course in a Western bar because no one brawls like Brits and Americans. Though the film supplied plenty of fist fights, gun fights, even sword fights, none of the fights were particularly convincing. The final scene was orchestrated like models doing a shoot, color coordinated with the set's architectural pieces. The gun fight more a dance than a struggle for survival.

Aside from the use of vibrant colors, the lighting could be surreal and contrary to the rules of nature. The sets may have been stylish but also appeared flimsy, especially when someone bumped into a wall causing it to shake. There were gorgeous travelogue shots of Japan as Tetsu drifted through them. But it always came back to the bright neon lights of the seedy side of Tokyo. The film felt quintessentially 1960's in manic mood and color.

While the film could bounce around-the betrayals, alliances, and creative storytelling never let the momentum slow down. Tokyo Drifter is a surreal yakuza experience, but one that is worthwhile if you like arthouse films or those films a little on the vividly strange side.

8/8/23

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I have a lot to say and justify so this might get long please bare with me

The first 3-4 episodes of the show are just too good and really make the viewers excited for what is to come, and this rise in expectation can be a problem. I had already read enough reviews of this drama to know that it does not live up to the potential it has, and yes I agree to this. However, the show has many other reasons to stick to it and personally it did not fail me (for most parts).

There are a few things I personally feel most viewers should keep in mind:
-The characters are from a comic book- so even after they realize they are playing a role, there is still only an extent to which they can be developed as the writer of the book has limited their backstories and developing traits (differs from character to character).
-It might seem like Baek Kyung's character is more interesting and developed than most and that is due his complex feelings portrayed in the comic as well so it makes sense as to why he would go through an emotional battle in the shadow too. It helps that Lee Jae Wook portrays him with perfection.
-Haru may seem unfinished in terms of character writing but that perfectly made sense to me as he his fate was always inter-linked to Dan Oh. There are scenes , where he gets to portray overwhelming emotions (memory loss and flashbacks of the previous comic) and Rowoon plays his part so well! This is a character that could easily have been bland but he adds life and charm to Haru.

Now getting to the things that worked well for me:
-Do-Hwa's character, seriously the guy was too good.
-The chemistry between the leads and the entire cast as a whole was amazing. A weird note here- Lee Jae Wook and Rowoon seemed to have the best chemistry, scenes where they look at each other with passion made me think of things they did not intend to lol.
-Haru and Dan Oh were just too cute and I found it super easy to root for them.
-The concept as a whole is extremely fresh and the gorgeous cinematography helps its execution.
-Acting by each character from the main to the support roles is excellent.
-OST and background score was used to enhance the scene instead of making the scene.
-No character was boring as such, those that I was lesser interested in got lesser screen time as well.
-Inner monologues of the character when they realize the nonsensical scenarios that go on in the stage.
-This might be controversial but in spite of the unanswered questions I was pretty satisfied with the ending .

Things that did not work for me:
-As I mentioned, with the strong start, one's expectations rise but the drama does not do all that it could. It has more potential then it lives up to.
-Certain episodes between maybe 11-14 have multiple repeated scenarios.
-Dan Oh starts off strong but starts fitting into conventional tropes as the story follows. She does not do much to change her fate its more of Haru, Do Hwa or even Baek Kyung working for it.
- The drama allows more clichés then necessary, the problem is they have enough elements to avoid those but they do not make use of it as the drama progresses.
-Baek Kyung was interesting but in no way likable for most of the drama. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching his scenes but Dan Oh made her disinterest pretty clear but he just did not get her. Troubled childhood does not justify his violent and harsh behavior even in the shadow.
-I did not appreciate them giving Nam Joo the illegitimate son storyline towards the end to justify why Joo Da goes with him considering there was a lot of development for Do Hwa and Joo Da and I really think they wasted the potential of making the second lead end up with the girl considering the scenario they built.

I have mixed feelings towards one thing, lack of involvement of the writer. This SERIOUSLY BOTHERED me at first as I thought the dry squid guy was the writer and later I assumed it was BK's brother but then I realized this revelation could have added more convolutions to the story then necessary and thus it worked for me.

Whoever stuck to this till the end thank you for reading! This might be my longest review lol I just had a lot to say. I would recommend watching this show if you are in a mood for romance and a genuinely interesting concept! Just try not to raise your expectations too high and you'll like it more than you think.

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One of the best real live adaptation drama i have ever watched, No regret at all.

Can't believed that my first review in MyDrama List would be this drama, Trust me, you won't Regret Watching it. The emotions content is very rich and the characters development are also well introduced throughout the series. At first, i am thinking of the drama would be not interesting, but upon trying to watch a few episode, immediately you will like to finish it due to the good development of storyline in this drama. The acting of the characters are also very good which i did not expect from a Chinese film production which rarely I would usually watch it. You would also able to feel the flow and individual characters development and the uniqueness of each inside the drama. Apart from that, the series has also
well introduced the realistic of the world that has stopped us from going after the things or dreams we like in real life. This drama has definitely brought many of us some awareness whether the things we like are worth to be sacrificed in this realistic society. Overall i would say it is definitely best and worth to watch.

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Standard Format, New visuals.

So as far as originality this doesn't stray too far from the path that had been laid out by countless movies and Drama Specials before it. Survivors guilt and the Soldier that can't deal with being home. What it does change is the Soldier is not the focus, but more of a side character. The focus is the science race for the atom bomb.

What does stand out is the visuals at the end, it has less sanitized scenes of after the bomb fell. You can almost smell the air and feel the despair, but also humans just moving on, dealing with things no matter how horrific.

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Coffee Prince (2007) - this one is aired in our local network GMA that is why I was not that hooked with this drama when it aired on TV since I find the dubbing horrible.

I did watched the Korean version of this one since almost all recommended this drama. Eventually it has a different editing than what is what I usually see in other dramas, I find the pacing so hard to understand. I find it hard to connect the storyline since there are somewhat missing parts, which is the style of the editing of this drama.

The drama is cute, fun and light hearted. Yoon Eun Hye did really great as someone pretending to be a guy, I acknowledged that.

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Asian movies are ruining me for anything else. For the first time a transgressive veteran like me had to keep asking What the hell did I just watch ^_^ I mean I have seen everything from American Psycho to Audition and even I was completely blown away! This movie is a total mind fuck, and one of the best ones at that like Kang Hanuels Forgotten which I honestly never got over and this one delivers the same punch. Seriously if I say anything about the plot it would be a spoiler so if you like dark, mind fuck, and a but gory you'll love this. It's not too much jump scares or gore or even scary faces, mostly just a dark plot.

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Awesome Gender bender

What a refreshing gender bender drama. I was skeptical when I initially heard the story. How ever it has set a high bar for this genre, which will be hard to overcome in the future. The FL acting was remarkable with a strong script backing her up. She portrayed the confusion of feeling both like a man and a woman extremely well. I really liked how she walked and talked like a male and reacted emotionally like a male as well. She quickly adapted to each new turmoil thrown at her with out preserving over issues she could not resolve. I liked how she remained a direct and honest person and did not use lies or hurtful comments to make the king back off. The transition of her feelings was very well portrayed, which I believe is a remarkable feat.

The associated humor was masterfully done and was hilarious without being crass. Very funny portrayal of male ego vying to appear cool in front of others.

Nearly satisfying ending. In my personal opinion, the female was there through out the journey but only came forward to express her love. Perhaps she needed another stronger soul in her to make her braver so she could help the king.

I believe now the modern ML will have an inner female counterpart for him to understand women problems. It would have been fun if he found a FL who had an inner male counterpart and some how they complemented each other. well.

I took away a point as the number of episodes need to be less. Although I watch k dramas as if my life depends on them but there are so many now that it is an addiction. I would rather not fast forward and watch a tight knit story instead.

Over all really well done to cast and crew.

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One of the best

OK, I admit, I came to watch this drama because of XiaoZhan. After the drama Chenqing Ling (The Untamed), I started to search for dramas by Xiao Zhan, and this drama is one of them. (By the way, if you haven’t watched The Untamed yet, you might want to check it out.)

Initially, at episode 1, I almost gave it up because it started off as a modern-day drama, so I thought; I had expected a historical wuxia drama. But very quickly within the first episode, it moves into historical settings and I was totally hooked since then.

Accordingly, this drama is adapted from a novel whose popular author has also written many other works including Ever Night. I have not read this particular novel (Joy of Life), but I understand that it is a super long novel, and the drama adaptation is planning for a five-year 3-season run, and we are currently in season 1. Whether the following seasons would run into any unforeseeable issues is anybody’s guess (such as the change of actors etc).

In the actual novel, it is supposedly a time travel story. But because such stories (time travel) are banned in China film production (I don’t understand why China wants to stymie such creativity), the production team has cleverly adapted the story by cutting out the time travel part hence passing censorship.

I must say, unexpectedly, this drama is so good! The story is interesting. The dialogues are funny and unexpected. The play of words and homophones, puns and use of chenyu (idioms) are hilarious, and yet witty, deep, meaningful and cultured. Too bad many of these wonderful characters (Chinese words) are lost in the translation and non-Chinese native speakers may not find the dialogues as wonderful as the native speakers do. Seemingly a light-hearted drama, but when it comes to emotional moments, the director has successfully squeezed out a tear or two from me. The acting is immaculate! I love the relationship Fan Xian has with his siblings and with others whom he considers as friends; it’s deep and genuine. Unlike most actors who act in historical dramas, Zhang Ruoyun has a presence day physique making him a perfect Fan Xian as he is supposed to be a modern man; his etiquettes are simply hilarious and Zhang delivers 100%. The supporting cast is equally good, in particular Guo Qilin who plays Fan Xian’s little brother; he is adorable and amazing. I hope to see more of him. I love the opening and ending OSTs, with the ending song being sung by Xiao Zhan, another talented actor and singer.

33 episodes in, I still haven’t seen a whiff of Xiao Zhan. Nonetheless, this hasn’t reduced the enjoyment I have got out from this delightful drama. Xiao Zhan plays a supporting role and for marketing purposes, his name is being displayed or used prominently to attract attention. I can understand why the team is doing this (Xiao Zhan is currently the hottest Chinese actor in China), but I find it deceiving and I can't say I appreciate it. This drama should receive the attention it duly deserves if being marketed properly, because it is indeed a great drama

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Product of horrific writing ✍️

Plot spun in circles for episodes on end. Villains were non-factors. Characters were never in danger which kills the drama for me. Comedy was hit and miss. Rules change at the drop of the hat to fit the story the main character Mun was too naive to be the leader and he had a horrific case of white knight syndrome. It was a shallow story that started out interesting enough with evil spirits eating and obtaining powers of counters however they quickly became a non-issue by episode 4ish when he bodied the main bad guy with little to no difficulty. The use of telekinesis was extreme but the lack of use to prevent someone from getting away bothered me a lot which pulled my enjoyment out of the show by episode 9 I was watch purely to finish the show so I could give it a proper review.

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