Reviews

Well worth the time

Everyone seems to have said it all; how great this series is. Mine will be short. The cast were phenomenal. LiQin, I’ve seen several of her dramas. I really like her character here. She really shone. Xiao Zhan, I’ve heard of and definitely he was very good here. There was a short kiss scene between them and I’m wondering if it’s something they agreed on. I don’t know bout Zhan, but in other Qin shows, she has barely intimate scenes. It must be her conditions. I think they chose a very good drama that highlights their flexibility and maturity.

Story of growth, perseverance, as well as choices really highlights this wonderful production. We were young once too. This story depicts so much relatable circumstances of our youth into growing up. It’s a really good one.

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"This is personal" Well, of course it is...

Triple Threat had an embarrassment of martial artists riches and also embarrassingly bad dialogue, even for an action movie. The martial arts were also short shrifted in lieu of guns and things that go boom far too often.

Payu and Long Fei have been hired to help with a “humanitarian” mission that turns out to be anything but. Local security for the site, Jaka, loses his wife in the deadly firefight that erupts when the mercenaries enter the village to release Collins, a notorious terrorist. Payu, Long Fei, and Jaka develop a tenuous partnership to bring down the mercs and end up protecting a Chinese heiress/local philanthropist along the way.

The firefights were often over the top as the bad guys mowed down people throughout the small country of Maha Jaya. Things were always more interesting when the guns were down and the fists and kicks were up. Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, and Tiger Chen all have experience with fighting on screen and choreography. The weakest of the three was Tiger as his fights often looked slow and uninspired. Tony and Iko were far more entertaining as they defied gravity with their flexibility, quickness, and strength. Bad guy, Scott Adkins, was able to keep up with the kicks as was Michael Jai White. Jeeja Yanin had what amounted to a glorified guest role and didn’t have many chances to show her skills.

The action came fast and furious with the fighters and heiress on the run. Unfortunately, some of the acting and much of the dialogue was painfully cringeworthy. Not much effort was made to create a cohesive story either. As a check your brain at the door, let’s watch Tony Jaa fly and flip, it was rudimentary martial arts action entertainment.

15 May 2024

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Saw this in theaters, it was a pretty decent gangster movie. The kind where both sides show a little shades and good and bad. Mainly Ma Dong Seok is a detective and also kind of shady (not a spoiler, shown in the beginning of the movie). He's working in a squad that aims to get rid of the gangs in the city. Gang violence has deescalated, but then this new crew shows up and starts causing all kinds of trouble for the existing gangs in the city and the detectives. The characters were fun, but the outline of the story is pretty typical. The movie just was a ride through a different story with seemingly a familiar background. Was executed pretty well. I enjoy detective/cop stories so my rating may be a little higher than normal.

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We say 'Actions speak louder than words but it doesn't mean that words have no effect'

THIS DRAMA IS WORTH MORE THAN JUST WATCHING IT IS MEANT TO BE FELT .
This drama needs a lot of respect and admiration. The writer and director did a great job. It seriously is the best drama about cyberbullying i have ever seen . I really can't express how much this drama touched my heart, i cried almost in every episode ( maybe i am just being sentimental but you know what this is seriously the most i hv ever cried after watching the drama).
This drama shows how you might just say that cyberbullying are just words but they are not ,they are a lot more you know . I hv never experienced it but i still felt sooo much hatred towards it.
Some may say that in the end nothing changed but let's be honest he was able to change one person and that means so much. This drama showed reality and didn't sugar coat it, they showed that not all people can change but if you change one it is still a big achievement .Not everybody can tolerate your maliciously forged knife!!!!

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Great Story

I really enjoyed this! A very nice, very laid-back BL you can finish in less than a day that has mild stakes and some very handsome leads. Although I Love You, And You was a great little BL gem of 2024.

Let's Dive In.

A love at first sight trope? Oh I'm seated. Obsessed with Soga, the adorable little working man who recently got divorced but is still so happy go lucky. He meets Sakae whose very outgoing and energetic, and wallah, you have a previous little couple. The stakes aren't very high, and this seriously is just a very precious, very short BL love story.

The chemistry between the leads is good! It works because Sakae is so head-over-heels and Soga is super sweet and just go-with-the-flow who ends up feeling the same way. Their on-screen romance isn't anything crazy, I just think these two actors know how to act and they did it to the best of their ability. Some dead fish kisses, and some fade-to-black NC scenes, but I liked the connotations behind them, so I won't complain too much. Other than that, I think they navigated their relationship in a very clumsy, very awkward, very delicate way -- all in which I absolutely loved.

Couldn't get enough of the close friendship between Sakae and his friend, so enjoyed that they spoke openly to one another and they felt comfortable. All the women in this played such great people instead of being jealous and conniving. The ex-boyfriend was a bit of a hinderance, and the only real argument I have is that I wish Sakae would've really but his foot down with him and actually kick him out instead of being stand-off, and especially letting him speak over him when it came to Soga trying to confess. The side characters didn't have much of their own story besides moving the main plot along, which isn't bad since this series is only 10 episodes around 23 minutes long.

Ratings:

Story: 8/10 - very simple, yet very catchy. You won't get bored with the story, it's engaging since the leads are always together, and their build-up is so good. Some parts or eh, but most of it is good.

Acting: 9/10 - Jun did an incredible job as the soft-spoken Soga. Kan is so young, but he did really well as playing the lead. Every one else did good.

Music: 6/10: didn't pay much attention to it, but it wasn't distracting.

Recommendation Value: 7/10: Super easy watch, super quick watch, and it's a nice happily ever after. Not super plot heavy and the characters aren't very complex but if you're looking for a nice little love story, then you can find it here.

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"My mister" is different from everything that I saw on dramaland until now. The layers of this story, built in each episode, take the audience to a deeper level of tension and expectations. So many things happen in one episode that makes you feel as if you're watching a whole movie. At the ending of episode one, I was fissured about what the hell would happen with Park Don Hoon and why Lee Ji Ahn seems so weird. With the following episodes, the story goes even more dark and strong. Guys, what a drama!

I will talk about the actors and I have to start with IU. As I said in the "first impressions", sometimes I have a little prejudice with idols that acts, but this woman makes my heart flutter with her performance and I think that was the best female acting that I saw in a drama until now. The personality, the devotion, the deep look on her eyes... Everything communicated about the character and makes us understand a little bit of Lee Ji Ahn and all her shadows. Lee Sun Kyun also did a great job as Park Dong Hoon! I could feel the kindness and peace in his expressions, but in the moments of anger, he just transformed himself. I the first blow-up of the character my mouth couldn't close, I was totally in chock. The chemistry between them both was amazing and made me sigh many times... Not in a romantic way, and I don't know how to explain, but I think that their relationship will communicate something different to each person that watches it.

I won't spoiler it, but I have to talk about the ending. Guys, I never cried like this since "Goblin". Don't take me wrong, this has nothing with "Goblin" and the reasons for my cry were pretty different here. Follow the development of each character and their relations made me cry realizing how life is full of changes and how one person can make your story totally different. I never realize this with so much strongness. The most powerful to me was the ending of Lee Kwang Il (Jang Ki Yong). I think that I never hated a character as I hated him. Every time that he shows on the screen, I was nauseated... But the conclusion... God! I cried like a baby realizing that I'm pretty fast to judge, but nobody does something without purpose or reason. We are products of the environment and, at the same time, we are totally responsible for our acts. As I said... This drama was a life lesson.

Just to say something that wasn't so amazing, I will talk about the relation between Choi Yoo Ra (Kwon Na Ra) and Park Gi Hoon (Song Sae Byuk). I just understand what was happening after the revelation on episode nine (I guess), but, after that, I just thought everything very weird with them. For me just didn't much sense. But after all explain, I started to love them.

So, this isn't a funny or soft drama, this is a drama for you who loves to immerse and to face heavy themes. I laughed, I cried a lot, and I think a lot about many things... For me, this is a chosen one for sure! (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★) Do a favor to yourself and watch this with an open mind and heart, thinking about your life and the value of the things and people to you. You won't regret it!

See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.

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Best Drama Couple of 2018 - Li Zi Cheng and Lin Qian

I sat through the entire drama, unlike other C-dramas that I dropped, due to lack of interest.

The casting of Jin Han was an excellent choice. He really lit up the screen, and he and Zhao LiYing had very good rapport. The casting of Zhao LiYing was another excellent choice, but there were serious issues with continuity, and her appearances on screen were not seamless. Her hair had varying lengths in the same scene, and seemed to grow several inches within a week.

Despite the perfect casting of the two main leads, I was bored with the remaining characters and their issues. Too much filler, too much dialog, too much bad editing, too much bad fashion!

For a drama set in a fashion industry, the fashions were fugly and painful to watch. Boss Chen wore the most ludicrous men's clothing, and Manager Ning wore two dozen or three dozen double-breasted busisness suits in every color, that were all two sizes too small for him. The male actors, who seemed to be in the height range of 5'9 to 6'0, wore clothes that were manufactured for males, 5'7 or shorter.

The haircuts were another story. Most of the actors had bad haircuts. Bad haircuts and fugly fashions weighed down the drama. Editing was bad. The scene with Lin Qin and Brother in the beginning episodes stretched over two or three episodes. The intercut scene editing made it look like they had been talking for twenty-four hours, and Lin Qian's hair length kept changing. That one scene should have been ten minutes long without the dreaded intercuts.

Flashbacking/flashback filler; this was almost as bad as Age of Legends, that I dropped because of the excessive flashbacks. The C-Drama Directors seem to forget that the viewers have a short attention span, and that constant interruptions only serve to disrupt the concentration. The Director should be trying to keep the viewer engaged in the plot.

Loud music; 75% of the time, the music volume was turned up when the characters were having a discussion. In real life, I don't think people have loud music playing when they are talking, unless they are in a dance club or concert.

Despite all the above criticisms, I found Jin Han and Zhao Liying to be charismatic, congenial, and refreshing in their characters. One might say that I loved the drama for these two actors, and the love story of their characters.

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Such a sweet show about childhood friends

The story spans a respectable timeline of several years – from when the boys were still in high school until they are in college. Very few shows do this, precisely because of how challenging it can be to track the development of a single character across time, but I think My Only 12% was a decent attempt.

In an era saturated with mature BLs, the innocence of My Only 12% makes it stand out from the rest. There are no kisses up until episode 12 (out of 14 episodes), but that doesn’t make the show any less romantic.

Cake and Eiw’s feelings are painfully obvious to everyone else but each other – typical for most coming-of-age love stories (see ITSAY, Star In My Mind and Sotus). The show is pretty much this exploration of this friendship as it evolves to become something more. Were all the meanders and misunderstandings worth it? I think yes.

The final 2 episodes also turned out to be a huge anti-smoking campaign – that’s fine but it was a little over the top for me and came from nowhere. Other than that, I really liked this show, the MDL reviews (>8.0) are accurate!

My full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2022/11/13/my-only-12-review/

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Just WOW - the hype is real

I'm quite late to the bandwagon, but am so glad that I gave this masterpiece a chance! I've watched many dramas over the years and I have to say this is probably one of the most well written dramas I've seen. The acting and storyline are amazing! I'm very pleased with the cast because they really brought the characters to life.

Mei Chang Su is the most beautiful tragic hero, and is a someone who I could not stop admiring episode after episode. His wit and intelligence never failed to amaze me. Despite the mental, physical and emotional pains he had to endure, he is blessed to have loyal and loving friends and comrades. The highlight of this drama is definitely the relationship between Mei Chang Su and the rest of the main characters. The BROMANCE is real yall. I love his bond with Fei Liu, Meng Zhi, Jingyan, Li Chen, etc. There is a bit of romance, but that was not the focal point of the drama (which I very much appreciated). Honestly, the story would have done well even if they decided to forego the romance.

I will say that this drama will require time and patience to watch because it is a slow burn with lots of details, so your full attention is required to really appreciate the story. The rewatch value would be high because I'm sure I missed a few details the first time watching. My only complaint was the way the last episode played out, as there were some things I would have changed (e.g. the filler scenes). Otherwise, I really enjoyed it.

Nirvana in Fire will definitely go down in history as a classic. Thank you to the writer, cast and crew for such a beautiful series.

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Great show about TCM

Man I never thought I would enjoy a drama about traditional chinese medicine. They throw so many herb names around that I have no idea what the characters were saying, and stuff about qi blockages made me go “pardon?” But it ultimately was a great show because of the characters.

It depicts how tough it is for TCM practitioners to be taken seriously as modern western medicine has more respect, but it drives home the message of how TCM has existed for hundreds of years and many people are alive today as a result of it.

I liked most of the characters of the show but for most of it I really disliked Matthew Ho as he is this really naive and oblivious idiot that constantly pisses off Sisley Choi’s character. Sisley Choi is also not in a typical happy role this time, she plays a more down-to-earth serious role and it is about time as I was worried she was being typecasted into the happy hehe roles at TVB. But the biggest stand out for me was Ricco Ng as he was just a joy to watch, and I never thought I would be saying that. His acting has come on in leaps and bounds; he really has potential in becoming a male lead in a future big drama for sure.

Overall, a great drama that is held back by a really annoying main male protagonist who only barely redeems himself near the end of the drama.

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A fatally beautiful saeguk.

I'm not a fan of Saeguks. Or extremely political dramas which involve power play and betrayals. My first Saeguk was 'Moon Embracing the Sun', which I sat through solely due to my sudden interest in watching Kim So Hyun's works. Though it was a unique experience, I would not say that it was excellent. Same goes for 'The Tale of Nokdu', where all the interwoven politics went over my head.

I started The Red Sleeve purely after being impelled to do so by reading the exalted emotions on the MyDramaList comment section. (The first GIF I saw in Tumblr was the one where Deok Im says that she has a cold.)
Never did I expect to flash through all the twelve episodes released at that time within two days. Based on real historical figures and incidents, the drama follows the life of Sung Deok Im, a happy-go-lucky young court lady who is destined to serve the Crown Prince for the rest of her life. Content with her future, she finds joy among her friends and doing the things that she loves the most, enjoying the freedom that she got.
Until a chance event leads her right to the Crown Prince, Yi San, who although initially annoyed by her antics, slowly warms up to her.
Struggling to untangle herself from schemes of Yi San's rivals and attempting to navigate through her duties and protecting the Crown Prince, Deok Im soon starts to realize that life within a palace is not as she thought it was going to be.

What made this drama win me over was the solid script which equally divided the screen time between palace politics, the court ladies and the angst-inducing romance of the leads. Although the initial episodes leaned more towards the style of a comedic romance, the ominous foreshadowings of what lay ahead are already planted right on the first episode. Thanks to this being based on real individuals, I was prepared for what lay ahead.

I've never seen the lead actors before, so I am unable to evaluate them based on their previous works. But, every single characters' performance was captivating.

Deok Im is hands down one of my all time favorite characters. Aside from the romantic aspect, she is a strong lady who is unafraid to say no when required. Considering that this drama is set during the early 1700s when common women had little to no power, I loved how she went against the social norms of those times.
"The Crown Prince is dear, but myself is dearer."
As a result, her relationship with Yi San is of the excessively slow burn type, but it never once hindered my enjoyment as the subplots had almost equal importance as their personal tale. I had seen several comments about how her character went overboard multiple times, but I vehemently support her very tame outbursts as Yi San himself refused to often understand his boundaries. Lee Se Young almost perfectly portrayed Deok Im's slow decline into despondence. Her bright smile and sunny attitude was nowhere to be found after the initial episodes. Sometimes, I would rewatch an episode and then wonder how things went downhill for her so suddenly.

Yi San is the one character who had the most pivotal role. We see him slowly take on his responsibilities and start to grow from a slightly carefree prince to a ruthless King. This tone shift is starkly represented, particularly after EP11. I admit, he scared me often with his actions. He would be empathetic during one time, then pretty much ruin that by unfurling his deepest emotions and having sudden bursts of anger. But, I can understand why he reacted the way he did. According to fans/viewers who know history, their love story was not an easy one.

Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young delivered stunning performances. I will be keeping an eye out for both the actors' future works from now on.

I loved the friendship between Deok Im and her friends; also her relationship with Wol Hye (a senior court lady) and Lady Seo (her mentor). The final episodes in particular made me realize why they were an integral art of her life and how they helped shape her choices.
Lady Seo knew Deok Im the most. It pained me to see her cry.

Special mention to Yi San's personal guard and the eunuch, who were a regular presence straight from the start. The duo and Lady Seo provided the bit of comedic relief that I wanted.

(One unexpectedly touching moment was a brief conversation between Princess Hwahan and her adopted son. It made me tear up surprisingly. Hong Deok Ro was another muddled character whom I couldn't hate.)

The Red Sleeve relied on visual portrayal rather than verbosity. Deok Im and Yi San's real romance barely lasted for four episodes before Deok Im starts to realize that giving up her confined freedom for life as a consort was not worth it.
The drama has politics, but I wasn't disinterested or muddled about what was going on. Though there were episodes where I failed to trace out who was whose sibling/aunty/uncle/brother, it was understandable and engaging. The main King, who has a very strange man, made me feel like either something was wrong with him or with me. Breathe on him the wrong way and there is a high chance we will be leaving the palace without our heads. I could feel the urgency and tension of the characters whenever something happened. The scenes between him and his Grandson were highly emotional.

And the million rules…. I'm suddenly happy that such a Monarchical system has ceased to exist or else I would've self exiled myself. The stiffling life of the Concubines was hard to watch. The Queen Dowager was a regular character who was the most insightful and enigmatic person to me. I realized by the end that she was a wise woman who was worthy of her title.

Yi San and Deok Im's love story is what someone on tumblr mentioned, almost Austen-like. (I'd say Bronte type too.) I understood why it was drawn out. The original story had the king wait for Deok Im for 15 years. This drama somehow managed to stuff that into 17 episodes. Though, I personally feel that it should've been drawn out to some 18 or 20 episodes for a smoother transition.

Scratch that. After finishing EP16, I wanted the drama to end as quickly as possible. It left me with a tumult of mixed emotions. I didn't know if there was anyone to be blamed or hated. I wished that fate itself could get undone. Watching the final episodes was like watching a train wreck.

The background music was enchanting and haunting. Though I was not a huge fan of the songs, I did notice that they progressively went from light hearted to plain heart breaking as the intensity of emotions attained a peak.

The scriptwriter did not resort to any forced scenarios and tried to stick to the book as much as possible. While half of the Red Sleeve is a nerve-wracking mess, I do not regret spending my time for it. It also solidified my opinion on why I hate palace dramas so much.

Definitely an outstanding production that deserves every bit of love.

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Don't be discouraged by episode count.

Story of Minglan can feel like it's on the slower side but every moment does matter. Minglan portrays a different kind of feminine strength than what we are used to seeing in historical dramas. She's not loud, physically tough nor picks fights with anyone. Her strength retains grace and class and most importantly, smarts. Her growth throughout the drama is very satisfying to watch. Gu Tingue is also a very lovable male lead. He never forces anything on Minglan and quietly encourages her to be herself and supports her when she stands up for what she believes in. I like how they start off as mere acquaintances but gradually start realizing how compatible they are.
Everyone's performance in this drama is superb. And every character, including antagonists, has many layers and is not one-dimensional.

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I loved this drama...

I liked the style, the way the backstories unfolded, the different characters (especially Rini) and also the format with the 30 min episodes. I think that KD Dramas can be a bit long and sometimes include unessesary things (ususally in the last 1-2 episodes ) but here the pacing was perfect all the way through. I would even think another season would be great (and I dont usually like when series go on to more seasons like they often do in the American series) because I want to know more about Minhos character and how that develops, I wanna know more about Rini and also the writer (cannot remember his name now). So I would love another series (30 min episodes again) focusing on those characters.
I was totally hooked and fully entertained and thats all I am asking for.

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A Repetitive Jealousy Story

This show really had the potential to be great but the execution of the story made it hard to love. I think the characters could have been very enjoyable to watch and at the start they all were. Unfortunately, after we got halfway through the series it started going downhill and from the ninth episode onwards it became a complete trainwreck.

Acting:
The acting in this show was absolutely amazing. It was really exciting to see all the actors from BLs we had seen in the past. We had BL royalty Singto, but we alsosaw actors from shows like Until We Meet Again, Love by Chance, Y the Series, Together With Me, Oxygen, The Shipper (sort of BL), and Lovely Writer. I really wish Bruce had played a bigger part in this show. The actors portrayal of their characters was fantastic and even though I didn't like some of the characters their chemistry was great.

Additionally, the chemistry between Singto and Tae was brilliant and it's probably the main thing I liked about this show. Yoon and Yacht were really great too and I wish they got a bit more screen time. It was great seeing Yacht acting in a BL couple as a more introvert person, as much as I love seeing him play more playful roles.

Camera Work and Editing:
The overall production was fantastic. The filming quality was extremely high. The show was beautiful to watch and the colours were fantastic. It was also great to see the beautiful art produced. The camera work was really great and helped in telling the story to the audience.

Writing:
The writing in Paint With Love was all over the place and is what I'm going to discuss the most. Paint With Love has a good premise. I love to see non-college BLs. Using art and painting as a big part of the storyline was very original. Initially it was meeting my expectations, Maze and Phap had the opposites attract thing going on and we also had an workplace story going with all the accidents. I was hoping to see both Maze and Phap make each other better people and see them tackle the work place. Unfortunately we didn't get that.

The writing really struggled to make me feel emotions that were trying to be conveyed. For example when Maze in episode 11 felt sad that Phap had left to Japan, it was almost like we were meant to feel sorry for him, but I honestly couldn't garner any ounce of sympathy for him since he treated Phap like shit for most of the show. Another example was Nueng's attempts to make Maze feel his true feelings by saying awful things about Phap. It really felt like an attempt to make him like some hero but he just came off as a prick and bully. Worse yet Maze never defended him.

Another issue I had with the writing was Maze's character was so inconsistent. He had three different personalities in this show - the professional stoic one, the kind sweet softie, the cunning guy (in episode 11). Also there was no development to each one. Basically the writers picked which ever one would serve their purpose for each scene. Unfortunately this lack of consistency made Maze annoying because half the time I was thinking why is he behaving like this now.

The misunderstanding conflict plot lines were the most annoying and overused part of the show. The main one being Maze and Nueng as lovers which was used countless times to drive a wedge between Maze and Phap, and Nueng and Tharn anytime any of these couples made any progress. Keeping the misunderstanding plot going, got in the way of any development of the romance and the characters. Maze was still quite a selfish prick even up until episode 10/11 and Phap had barely changed too. Any real development appeared to happen in episode 12 and this was limited. This made for an unsatisfying resolution when the couples did finally properly get together.

I think there would have been potential in the sabotage plotline a bit further and got rid of the repeated jealousy scenes. I still want to know who took out Nueng with that jetski.

Extra Note:
I want to talk about episode 11 because it was the most confusing. Episode 11 felt like a completely different director took over. We saw Maze and Nae break the fourth wall which was weird to me because the director hadn't chosen to engage the audience in any previous episode. Then we had this sort of deviation of Maze, Nae, Tharn, and Nueng tackling Pookie even though both were broken hearted. I have an issue with how transwoman are used in BLs. It seems all too common to vilify them. I was also disappointed that the way they took Pookie down was not by proving she is rips people off but finding out she sexual assaulted. It really ruined the suaveness of the Maze and Nae take down.

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