Reviews

I was afraid to start this because I heard the ending was bad and that it's not worth it, but I'm writing this review to say that I generally enjoyed the drama!!!
The ending was terribly criticized and maybe it's not 10 stars but I think overall it was worth my time to watch... Usually in these costume dramas the ending is really dark and the last 10 episodes or so they lose the lightness and fun of the drama to conclude it, but I think the drama kept the overall fun atmosphere till the end.
The drama is well paced and I seriously love all the male characters... It was worth watching all those beautiful faces!!

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4 because I am feeling generous and it's from China

gosh i wanted to like this bl a lot coming from china and knowing the culture there i appreciated the effort, but seriously no, don't bother if it's done like this.
The story per se is simple and could be passable, but seriosuly i am not watching bl to get an annoying fake realisting ending that is a cover for prejudice in real life.
Also, really 20 minutes and making them boring is a feat for the director, to push trough it i've had to watch the series double speed. and the puppy love between the main couple could be cute if quality was not so abysmally poor that it made even the lowest thai bl look classy in comparison.
I want to save the acting because i appreciate the actors for doing this, and acting is probably the best part of this drama (not to say it's stellar, but not so terribly different drom other dramas) but no matter the amount of acting this drama is just a total no under every other aspect, and not even the kissing and love making scenes (that i was kind of surprised to see) could redeem this.

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Beautiful and touching drama

Slow-paced, but beautifully produced, acted, and packed with lots of invaluable life lessons, this show is a true gem. The writer behind it has an immense wisdom that shines through in every episode. Whenever I think about this show, I find myself tearing up not out of sadness, but because of the beautiful and touching stories each character brings to the screen. The chemistry between the main leads is realistic and beautiful, making it easy to fall in love with them and root for their journey.

As a fan of the writer's previous work in Go Ahead, I was excited to see what they would bring to this piece, and I was not disappointed. Their talent for crafting poignant and meaningful stories is unparalleled. I can't wait to see what they create in the future, and I will be a fan for life. This show is truly a masterpiece, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a heartfelt and thought-provoking watch.

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Good friendship drama

If you're looking for best friend drama between two male leads, this might not be the best place. But if you're looking for friendship drama in general, this series offer you a great one. Of course in the end the two male leads will become best friend, but it happen around the third quarter of the series, while the first and second quarter gave a different friends with different plot. Probably because the timeline in this drama is kinda quick. I usually looking for drama with two best friend as the main leads, but this drama is pretty good too, almost the same like Cross Fire.

The plot overall is interesting, it shows a lot of simple things in life like value of friendship, the desire to not giving up, effort, and other things. I couldn't find what I hate from this drama, but of course every people have different opinion. The story progression also interesting and not boring at all. Definitely a good drama to watch

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THE BEST BL I HAVE EVER WATCHED

I honestly don't have much to say other than watch this BL. It was SO GOOD. I was completely entranced every episode, I didn't want it to end. The acting, the music, the cinematography, the story it was all so good and I can't get it off my mind and literally no series hits the same anymore. Also like I loved every single side character and was invested in all their stories which is so rare for me. GRAM AND YOK AND DAN their stories like held their own but were also beautifully entwined with the main storyline. And don't even get me started on the level of acting Off and Gun brought to this show. the characters were all so complex and the actors DELIVERED. The soundtrack was so good I have OEOEOEOEOEOE playing on repeat on Spotify (if u kno u kno). Lit just rambling but that's how good the show is I can't even think straight. I can't wait to rewatch it. I'm praying for a season 2. WATCH IT!!!!

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The OG series

I LOVED THIS. The connection between Kong and Archit was so strong. Anytime they were on screen with each other, it just felt completely natural. This was my first series where the engineering study was super plot-heavy, so I wasn't annoyed with the uni student dynamic (yet). This series is the best character development-wise. Both of them grew into being better people for each other, and I completely approve. The small meaning behind the gear necklace is what kind of made this series for me. I adore tangible objects that hold large meanings. This trope will become overplayed soon enough with every engineer BL series, but this one is where it felt really good. This was one of those shows that didn’t have to have a lot of physical moments just to tell a good love story. Off was in this and that just made it twenty times better. I genuinely enjoyed M and May’s story. I was quite shocked at how invested I was. Prem and Wad gave us nothing. Loved that.

The only thing that bothered me was how haze-heavy it was. Obviously, hazing isn't right, nor is it healthy, but there were sometimes when the hazing plot became too much and took over entire episodes. I wish Kong and Arthit got together a little sooner instead of them taking so long. As much as I love them, their first kiss was cringe like hell. I still haven't been able to go back and watch because it just looks super awkward and stiff. However, I love Kong and Arthit because the actors did amazing together, and corresponded with each other's emotions. Hopefully, we can see them in future dramas (obviously Sotus S, but something different).

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One of the best 2022 dramas

Amazing drama. Ive seen the female lead in Fly With You last year and thought she was really cute in it. But in this drama, she protrayed both a college student and a modern working female. She pulled off both roles amazingly. I laughed when she was weird and quirky and cried with her when she was sad. She did amazing. Tao was also super amazing in this drama too. I knew him back in his EXO days. And watched him in Brightest Star in The Sky and Negotiator. But i love him in this drama the most. He pulled off the young college student and cold boss really well. His emotions in the drama and the unrequited love for 10 years was really well protrayed. This drama is one of my favorites because it has so many different tropes that i love in it. For example: Time travel, College life to Working life , Been friends for a long time, Unrequited love, Healthy relationship, Amazing chemistry between leads, Cute relationship, Guy likes girl first, 2ml gets girl first, Good family relations, Good side characters, Smart fl and ml, Clever fl, No huge misunderstanding, Good ost, Supporting parents and Growth in characters. I never got bored watching this drama. I usually have to skip around cause there is a lot of fillers but this drama was not the case.
And the ost. Omg. I love Tao's song. Makes me so happy ever time it comes on. It was repeat for me for so long. Just amazing drama all around. Totally recommend. Going to rewatch this drama again because it has ended and now i feel a void in my heart.

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This is a classic get the bad guys drama, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. It had just enough light scenes to balance out the violent ones, and the bond between the group members was so much fun to watch. A little warning though, if you're not into bloody scenes this might not be for you. There is a good bit of people dying at the hands of the villain's in the series, and plenty of beatings to go around.

The OST was great and all the music in the scenes was on point to set you in the mood for what was going on. The actors did a phenomenal job with everything. While we've definitely seen the revenge/defeat the bad guys story before, this was well executed. I cheered on the guys who were the outcasts of society (technically criminals, but the goodish guys in this case) and despised the real criminals who killed and manipulated to get what they wanted out of society. Definitely a roller-coaster of emotions, but fun to watch. All in all, a great drama.

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This show is a truck load of political drama sprinkled with a cup of romance and I love it!

The premise of this show got me hooked from the first episode to the last. They were able to hide enough information from the viewers so that they are not totally in the dark. There were moments, especially towards the end that they were spoonfeeding the details, but it was done in a way that would not derail on what the show is trying to do. I also love the fact that when it started, they veered to viewers towards the 'supernatural' approach to the situations happening. The ghost's letter, the curse, the shamans, the mind control, and etc, was a good first approach that makes things very interesting. And in the end, when the viewers are somehow convince that there was something paranormal going on, they revealed who were really the perpetrators. It gave the show substance.

The ML's character development was insanely good. His character development felt so earned and genuine that I shed a couple of tears in the last few moments of the show. The climax of the show did not happen until the very last episode which somehow worried me because it may be rushed but everything fell into place quite accordingly. I loved how the show started with a 'wedding proposal' and also ended with a wedding proposal.

All of the actors delivered on their roles really well. They did their characters justice. Kudos to the team for casting the right people! Just wanted to mention PHS's acting, he really improved from the last time I watched him. When he cried, I felt like crying with him. When he got furious, I got furious with him. Kudos!

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My first taiwanese drama ever.

Oh gosh. Watching this again literally made me fully nostalgia. The ost, the cast (cough vic zhou cough), the vibe of drama still gave me a goosebumps. I remember i rewatched this drama a hundred times when i was a kid, and even i still having the cds.

Anyway, when i watched this drama this year, at this age, there's a lot of things that bothered my mind.

1. The bullying part. oh God if i ever been to that kind of college and society, i would have been kicked out myself first before i got the red letter. I just cant handle this part.

2. Dao ming tse's character. Ugh this man, so freaking sweet yet so scary at the same time. Not to forget to mention his selfishness, but well well, jerry yan successfully potrayed it so damn good. His acting as first timer was quite enjoyable.

3. Hua ze lei. Hellooo?? I am on his team when i was a kid. But again, when i watched it back at this age, Hua Ze lei literally a kind of Libra person. Sorry, i had to put some zodiac here because i dont know how to explain it well. He doesnt know what he wanted. He always followed what people said. He has no principle.

So i guess, thats all. But still, this drama is one my favourite. Old but still gold.

Pssst, Just because this drama gave me a a very first experience of watching good dramas, doesnt mean i dont like the other version. I prefer Hana Dori Yango, to be frankly honest.

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Tragedy of daughters that want to please their mothers

It's a character study of two characters' - mother and daughter, both of them try to please their mothers, disregarding their own feelings. This movie shines in the character department, all of them feel real and flawed. The soundtrack and cinematography create a picturesque atmosphere, which contrasts with the unhealthy dynamics of our main characters.

If you enjoy psychological character studies and generational tragedies - this one is for you.

The story has three segments:

First one: Memories of mother (we see how she meets her husband and her interactions with her mother, she displays people-pleasing tendencies and urges to always agree with her mother), none of her choice was because she wanted it. Marrying or having a daughter, she did it all because it would make her mother happy. She wanted to be a good daughter. This character showcases how dreadful lives of people pleasers become and how their attitude to please everyone (especially authority figures like mother) brings pain to everyone around them.

Second segment: Memories of a daughter (how she is living with mother that doesn't love her and from young days notices that mother loves grandma more than her). The tragedy is, the grandmother provides unconditional love to her grand-daughter and that makes her mother upset. Through daughter's eyes we see how unhealthily attatched to grandmother is her mother.

This movie brought many emotions out of me - disgust, anger and sadeness. I couldn't help but show middle finger to the screen when some characters would come in. They were insufafrable, because I knew some women like that in my life.

Acting was good, it relayed unsaid emotions pretty well and it created suspense, because actors relied well, when characters' were unstable and holding in their emotions.

Soundtrack: Orchestral string music that creates a fairytale like atmosphere. I have a soft-spot for such music, thus it's always A+ when movie utilizes it well. I was a bit surprised that movie ended on "hopefully-happy" musical track, as if trying to sooth the viewer

Would I watch it again? Well- I skipped first 7 minutes accidently and started to watch from them on. After I completed a movie I returned to the beginning and was happy that I did not treat movie like a murder mystery. Because first seven minutes showcases daughter hanging from tree and audience is faced with question if mother loved her or not. So I would suggest also starting from 7th minute.

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Cute and Simple Love Story

You Make Me Dance was a magical love story between a debtor and a creditor. Once again, Korea is serving with these amazing BL love stories that they have been putting out lately, and this one is not short of that at all. Shi On and Hong Seok are brought to the screen with so much story to tell, and they executed it beautifully.

Let's Dive In.

The only real argument I have is that it was too short. I believe that they have recently turned it into a movie, so good for them, but I still wished for there to be either more episodes or a longer running time. However, the showrunners did an amazing job at the pacing of the show. Nothing felt too slow or too fast, and there weren't any filler moments or extraness that wasn't needed, and because of that, the plot flowed very easily and nicely.

The actors did an amazing job, and I could really feel their emotions through the phone. Young Woo would have to be the better actor in my opinion. Especially since this was his debut series, I can't wait to see him in future projects. The only negative I can say is that while this is supposed to be a story about a dude following his dream of becoming a dancer, Young Woo was obviously not one. Most of his moves were very sloppy and not put together at all, but again, this is super nit-picky. (It might've even been pretty neat if they used an actual professional dancer..?)

The chemistry between the two wasn't all too noticeable up until about episode 4 and then it starts getting better. Granted, the pinky scene on the bus was the cutest moment ever between them. I liked how they were both completely different, yet when they were together, they balanced off of one another and created really nice moments. My only argument would have to be the last episode. only twelve minutes to go, and all of a sudden Hong Seok just ups and wants to break up. Obviously, it was because of his boss, but I wish I would have seen more of that conflict in his emotions, specifically when he was in bed with Shi On would've been perfect cause it would've led the audience to believe that something was about to happen. I think the ending was super cute even though it was a bit too "Disney" if that makes sense.

Overall, this was a really easy watch and a quick one too. I would definitely recommend this for someone wanted to see something lighthearted and happy. While I really did enjoy this, I think this series doesn't stand out too much from the others that we've seen like Mr. Heart or Where You Eyes Linger, so it'll probably be forgotten about, but for the time that I spent with it, I've had much fun.

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REALLY Good TW Drama, but...

This was EASILY the best Taiwanese drama I have seen in years. It was so good that I bumped it up half a point. At the start of the final episode I was going to score it 8/10 but there was such a pleasant surprise during the final episode I gave it 8.5.

I started this drama for Ivy Chen and Roy Qiu, but I stuck it out for Lian Man Shu. Her performance as Mei Ji was awesome, as was the writing of the character. That character and Jenny really set this drama apart from conventional tropes, and it was the resolution of Jenny's arc in the final episode that prompted me to increase my score.

This was a female-centric drama that focused on friendship. The music was awesome (I especially love that they had a lot of Italian music), but it was the writing and acting that made this joy to watch. The drama went a little soggy toward the end, just a little, but I was pleased that it did avoid the Makjang excesses which often mark the final quarter of Taiwanese dramas.

Nevertheless the slight sogginess in the final six is one of the things that caused me to mark the drama down. Had the drama been 24 45-minute episodes, it could have been a 9/10 , had it been 20 it could even have been a 9.5/10.

The other problem the drama had was with the central lead. One of the tags associated with the drama here at MDL is "smart female lead", but for the first 15 to 18 episodes, the female lead was someone who thought she was smart but consistently made bad decisions, showed poor judgement and refused to accept that anyone knew better than her about anything. She treated the two people who had invested in her business as nothing more than employees who had to do what she said, and as people whose opinions were of no worth. This was profoundly irritating, especially because it was presented as if she did know what she was doing despite the fact that so many of her decisions were ill thought out and generated negative consequences.

Despite those niggles I am very glad I watched this drama, and I highly recommend it as an example of what Taiwanese dramas can be when good writing is paired with very good acting.

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"They do nothing. Like you"

The Lobster Kid is a short film that punched above its weight. Short on time and budget, director Jsf Hsu made the most of each scene and supplied a lovely soft jazz score to fit the mood.

A thirteen-year-old girl is trapped in a street gang. She uses lobster analogies when her mind needs to hide from the violence of her surroundings. She desires to escape far away to Taitung and be closer to the lobsters’ surf. Suffering from the punishment of trying to leave, she inadvertently winds up with a begging priest. As the priest has taken a vow of silence, she makes herself at home traveling the city with him, using him to sell her wares and make money for him, too.

The performances were natural with only the gang mistress sliding over the top. The rapport between the girl and monk flowed easily accompanied by a delicate humor. At one point she met up with a friend and played with the young woman’s small daughter. The monk saw that the con artist was little more than a child herself, generous and kind in spirit. The gentle jazz score never intruded but buoyed the action subtly.

My rating might be a tad high given the sometimes amateur performances. The ending won me over and warmed my heart, putting a smile on my face. Like the silent monk who could appear and disappear, I wanted to do whatever was necessary to make this homeless child happy.

7 April 2024

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