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At first early minutes, the movie itself is slow and I don't really understand what direction it is going to be. However, it got slowly crawling into my mind and become more and more interesting and suspense. Actyally, the first half of the movie is quite slow but really really important to the 2nd half of the movie, otherwise, you will not understand and feeling anything later.
The 2nd half of thie movie is really intense and suspense, it makes me shocked because never expect it will be that interesting.
I will recommened this movie for those who like suspense thriller, with gore and bloody scenes.
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This review may contain spoilers
This show is a very "to each it's own" kind of show. To me, I thought it wasn't as bad as people had said & I actually enjoyed it. Of course I wouldn't say that it's the best show in the world, but I definitely wouldn't say it's the worst. It had a lot of potential too. It seemed rather rushed as well but I guess that could be because they're apparently breaking them into seasons.
The overall story idea was very interesting to me, but the development was too quick. I found the chemistry to be pretty good but the acting wasn't always the greatest. (I still wouldn't say it was the worst.) I don't want to drop spoilers but I don't know how else to bring this up & I think it's an important scene to bring up to prove my point about something, but the scene where they're giving orders while playing the King game was probably one of my favorite scenes. Not because it got "steamy" (if you want to use those choice of words) but because it showed how comfortable they all were with each other.
With Newyear actually being gay in real life, I like that they all were still very okay with the touchy-feely scenes. That scene actually looked the most real to me. It looked as though they were all genuinely having a fun time joking around. Nothing about it seemed awkward or uncomfortable & I felt that was probably the most important scene to show them as actors & people.
Now outside of that scene, the acting seemed to digress a bit. However, I think it was more for all the less intimate scenes to be honest. BrightxAugust was the most interesting to me & I paid the most attention to them. I felt Mark (August) played his character very well & him & Best (Bright) had really good chemistry with each other.
Junho & Matt's scenes were a bit odd to me. More on an acting level though, Like they weren't the most comfortable together or they just couldn't completely figure out how to portray their characters. I really like their trailer-like episode for the next season though! It looks like it's going to get interesting so I'm quite excited for that.
New & Pound's scenes weren't as awkward as JunhoxMatt's scenes, but they weren't as great as BrightxAugust. Again, I really love the comfortableness they all have with Newyear, especially Kris since he played his love interest. I seen a lot of people dislike their storyline specifically because Newyear's love interest wasn't his real life boyfriend, Both. The thing is though, folks, is that Newyear is an actor. He won't get to have his real life partner play opposite of him all the time. But that doesn't mean that they would break up over it. I doubt Both was upset with any of it because as most partners of actors (should) understand is that acting is acting. Having a couple kiss scenes with another actor doesn't mean they'll fall in love & dump their current lovers. Despite having a boyfriend, I think Newyear still did really well as his character & I'm really proud of him for being able to land a role since he wasn't able to get the last role he tried to audition for because of his sexuality (which still makes no sense to me that he was refused the role of a gay character because he's actually gay, but whatever).
To avoid this review from being 14 pages long, I'll end it with a few more things. This show, in my opinion, isn't as bad as it might seem. Some might not like it, & that's completely okay, but I don't think you should be afraid to give this one a try if you're curious about it. People may say that you shouldn't waste your time, but I truly find it to be anything but a waste of time. I say you should try it out; there's only 5 episodes (so far because as of right now only season one is out) & they're each 25ish minutes so it won't be like you wasted a whole 10 hours of your life if you end up not enjoying it. & who knows, maybe they'll improve for season two! ?
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it is quite entertaining since there is funny scenes and characters in it and the plot is excellent as well...
people who liked movies like Ocean's eleven, twelve etc would enjoy this one as well and also who like logical thinking and such
the story develops slowly and it is enjoyable as the lead character is quite interesting
it does not include any romance so those who wish to see that...well it is not in this movie~ :)
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This series had one of the best figurative interpretation on how to love someone selflessly. It came to a point when I felt like how can a robot be more human than me in forsaking oneself due to the love for someone. And then I asked myself, "Can I be like him? Can I love someone selflessly?"
Have your tissues/hankies ready at the last quarter of the series.
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Who's it gonna be - Oya's full-time Leader!
In the six episodes we are following the storyline in the Oya High School. The series begin with the introduction of new first year characters that admire to steal the position from Todoroki's hands, and become the school's leader for the full time students. This incident takes place, after the fight containers of the High & Low movie and during the Kuryu groups casino plan.
At the meantime, while the full-time first year students are trying to prove themselves, Murayama's group are betting who is gonna be this year's leader for the full-time students. Will someone win over Todoroki and be the next leader? Who has the highest changes of become the one to rule over the full-time students?
Todoroki (Maeda Goki) is in a position that he has to defend his position, from the people who want to take it, with every available tool. Nakagoshi (Kamio Fuju) is a first year who declares that he would become the new leader of Oya high school; while Yasushi (Sato Ryuji) and Kiyoshi (Uekiya Satoshi) are not only threatening that they would take the leader's position, but they also invited the potential candidates for the position to a fight. One of the people who are invited in this fight is Tsukasa (Yoshino Hokuto), however, this second-year student, has no interest in the position.
Even though, in general the plot is rather fast-forward, I have to admit that there were a lot of flashbacks from the main story. I do realise that we needed to establish the same timeframe between this series and the parent story, but we don't need to be introduced every time what SWORD is and is the current story.
I am not going to analyse their acting, as there are too many characters; I will say only two words: amazing acting. For the whole franchise, people with good acting skills and ability to express themselves through their emotions, were picked.
I know that I might be biased, as I said that I was not going to analyse their acting; but I have to point out how amazing Yamada Yuki was. In my humble opinion, he was the best actor in the series, as he was able to execute the peculiar character of Murayama and his questionable sanity. Hands down to his acting skills.
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A Cute Drama That Can Easily Be Missed From The First Several Episodes
Let me start off by saying that this is not one of those dramas that will lure you in with the beginning episodes. Other than being funny for a lot of the beginning episodes, it can be pretty confusing as well, as you don't really have a sense of where this drama is going until you reached a certain episode.That being said, let me state a couple of things and you can decide if you want to watch it.
* If you mostly just care about the romance and the other stuff doesn't matter for you, then I think this drama could be for you.
* This is a FANTASY drama. So, throw out all of the comparison relating to real life.
* Plot mostly revolves around the novel world so nothing will make sense.
* If you can make it to Episode 8, that's when the drama gets really good and where you'll start to understand what's going on. I think the reason for the low rating is some viewers dropped this drama somewhere within the first 7 episodes.
* Most importantly, it's a happy ending
Story: While there is an overall goal for our lead characters, because it focuses mostly on the plot of the novel world, it can be pretty random. There's really no set direction when it comes to the novel world's plot so that's why for story it only gets 3 stars from me.
The cast: The characters of the main leads were good enough for me, however it felt more like the FL's character is not so smart while the ML's character is the brains in all of this. He always seems to be one step ahead. Great second leads as they are not annoying and have their own love interest with each other and good side character friendships and assistants.
Not much music here other than the ending credit ost being played a lot but I do like that song though. A potential rewatch for me but probably starting it from Episode 8 instead of the beginning.
Overall, another good drama to watch to pass time. Not too short or long episode length wise. It may not be an amazing or standout drama, but I still liked it. Ending was great and nothing felt rushed. I'm satisfied with this drama.
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My favourite BL series of 2022
It is interesting, that some of the best BL series this year revolved around the topic of the life after death - ”On Cloud Nine”, ”Eternal Yesterday”, ”Something in my Room”, and of course the most beautiful series of 2022, ”Choco Milk Shake”. I was excited when Strongberry announced this series, because this South Korean production company has never disappointed the BL community with their short films, and the worst thing about CMS was that we had to wait for those magic 12 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays when it aired.The plot is a fairy tale: Choco and Milk, Jungwoo's dog and cat, want to reunite with him after they died (Choco in a car accident and Milk because of an illness), and they find a way to cross the rainbow bridge and meet him in human shape. The three of them spend a short, but beautiful time together, before Choco and Milk have to return to their place in heaven, from where they will watch Jongwoo for the rest of his life. For a moment, Choco is tempted to stay with Jungwoo, but Milk reminds him that he will be gone for good if he does.
This sounds very much like the plots of other animal-to-human series like ”Meow Ears Up”, but CMS is unique in that it is the cutest and most fluffy series of 2022, but at the same time has always an undertone of angst, because the viewer realises very soon that Choco and Milk won't stay with Jungwoo for long, and I know that many people around the world were scared like me thinking of the moment we would have to say goodbye to Choco and Milk.
When Choco and Milk actually leave in episode 10, this is one of the saddest moments in any BL series I've watched so far, but Strongberry wouldn't be Strongberry, if they didn't make Choco and Milk come back once again in episode 11 – ”this time not to make Jung Woo happy, but for their own happiness” - so that the ”magical love story” can go on for another 99 days or so.
But it isn't only the story that makes this series the most beautiful of 2022, it is also the acting. Lee Jae Bin as Choco and Kim Seong Hyuk as Milk must have spent a lot of time observing cats and dogs, because in every action, with every facial expression it is absolutely clear what kind of animal they used to be in their previous lives. Go Ho Jung as Jung Woo and Park Seung Bin as Jung Woo's uncle, and the owner of the bar where his nephew works, are good actors, too.
Cinematography, directing and editing are first class like in all Strongberry productions, so there is literally nothing to complain about. The live chats during the premieres of the episodes were a gathering of enthusiastic fans of the series from all continents, and all the episodes have been watched by more than a million viewers, the first episode even by more than 3 millions. This proves that Strongberry have hit the nail on the head once again.
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The characters in this drama are dynamic and interesting in their own way, especially the main female lead. I appreciate that she stays true to her character throughout-Fearless, loyal, impetuous, and kindhearted, yet crafty. I enjoyed that many of the women in this drama more than held their own place, and were independent, loveable, and strong. The characters and their unique yet strong personalities blended quite well which made this drama seem to go along much smoother and pleasantly for the viewer.
I liked that the drama was upbeat, even though there were life and death crisis after crisis. I hardly felt I was watching a period drama, and would highly recommend it.
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Summary -
Its about Gae Hwa a 30 something year old lady who is having a hard time finding a job and providing for her daughter. She is divorced and due to circumstances has to let her daughter go under her ex husband's, Kim Byung, care until she can find a stable job and get a house. She meets a top star Sung Min Woo through one of her temp jobs and later on finds out a secret about Sung Min Woo that even he didn't know about. This secret brings these two together ( not in a romantic way ).
Positive
Relationship is slow, but there is something really cute happening every time.
Ye Eun so so fcking cute. She is the cutest child I have seen in a drama.
Love triangle and love interest changes
Immature man and older lady relationship- very interesting
Happy ending
Negative
Ending to me was decent not good. It didn't satisfy me enough.
I highly recommend this drama just sooo cute.
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For me it was a 'Just one more episode' drama and I ended watching it all in one day. The actors portray their characters perfectly and the ending song made me dance in excitement. The story line was was great but re-watching this series would be a bit of an effort. I will definitely scan back some of the episodes and re-watch parts of it but the whole series isn't a must.
This is a very funny and bubbly drama that I recommend to those who liked 'Hana Kimi'.It had a few of the same actors and has the same 'Let's do it!' feel to it. :D
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Story
The drama is an excellent and unique combination of horror, crime and psychology that actually works!
First few episodes, and the drama is rather weird, difficult to follow at times, too many seemingly unconnected stories, dark and gritty cinematography. What the actual hell? Horror. If this drama does one thing right is setting the atmosphere, noone can deny that. The female lead is a likeable girl who can see ghosts and ultimately be possessed by them. The drama is possibly the only kdrama about the supernatural and ghosts which actually tries to be... not scary, but rather creepy and spooky, and it succeeds!
The girl wants to avoid them, be free of them and be normal, but she can't. And there is one guy who makes her feel safe and can potentially help her. No, not in a cute/romancy way, no, the script is just too good to resolve to romance to be likeable! The guy is a genius psychologist and crime profiler with a dark past. He does help her, or... that's what he wants us to believe! Plot twist? He uses her in reality to get revenge for his dark and sad past! And here we have the base concept of the drama which isn't really obvious from the beginning. Revenge, and its repercussions.
The drama pretty quickly switches from horror, and moves on to crime and psychology and here things get serious and interesting fast. Soul wants to address several morality issues and negotiate the very core of the human identity. It revolves around the idea of serial killers, how are they made, what do they think, can they be saved? What does it mean that we can examine and judge our own emotion-driven behavior and that of others? Can killers still be considered human? Where are the boundaries of responsibility between stepping up and overstepping? Can violence be stopped without more violence? Can there be serial killers who are not psychopaths? And in the very end, when we do step up are we better than those we hunt? Is there a difference or it's just an endless cycle?
The drama is very twisted in the best way possible. It is thrilling and offers several plot twists. It did have its boring moments and some problems of discontinuation while it took a few episodes for the plot to connect all the dots and find its way. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic overall experience. The story was to the point and quite fast paced. I can't say it was unpredictable but that didn't stop it from being interesting.
Acting
Lee Seo Jin shines the most in what i want to describe as one of the most twisted and yet most sentimental characters i've seen in kdramaland. He delived on several levels being sensuous and pleasing to every sense.
Im Ju Eum's role was rather demanding. Her character walked in the fine line between vulnerability and helplessness. I thoroughly enjoyed her 'crazy eyes', she suited the character completely and i think she really felt it. There were scenes where she was really incredible, and other were i felt she overacted quite a lot. Overall, she was great, and quite memorable, if she hadn't been lee seo jin's character wouldn't have developed and worked as exceptionally as it did.
I want to especially mention Lee Kyu Han for his amazing performance as a disturbed serial killer and Yoo Yeon Suk for his impression of a serial killer in-the-making.
Recommend/Rewatch
This drama isn't child's play, it's rather heavy and difficult to digest. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. If you are a crime and psychology fan, this would appeal to you. Horror is present but takes the back sit rather quickly. I can see myself rewatching it in a few years.
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Love, Laughter, and Family Ties
Perfect Match is a drama that truly shines due to its stellar casting. The actresses did an outstanding job in bringing their characters to life, making them not only admirable but also genuinely funny and loveable. The women of the Li family were particularly captivating, each displaying a unique blend of loyalty, intelligence, humor, and diligence. Their strong family bonds were beautifully portrayed, making it easy for viewers to grow attached to each of them. It was refreshing to see such strong female characters who uplifted each other rather than belittling others.The standout performances came from Wang Xing Yue and Lu Yu Xiao. Despite the script not fully utilizing their exceptional acting abilities, they still delivered memorable performances. Winwin also deserves special mention for his portrayal of Yang Xian, showcasing his impressive acting skills. Huangyang Tian Tian, though young, proved to be very promising with her compelling performance.
While the cast delivered exceptional performances, the script itself had notable flaws. At times, it carried misogynistic undertones that could be disappointing; however, the actors’ dedication helped soften these moments, making them less apparent. Another significant letdown was the lack of a preview into Kang Ning and Chai An’s married life, despite them being the supposed main couple. This omission left a sense of incompleteness, especially given the buildup of their relationship throughout the drama. Similarly, Mister She, Madam Li’s son, was a character with great potential, yet he was only present for three episodes. His character could have been explored further, as his presence added another layer to the family dynamic.
Among the various couples in the drama, Hao De and Shen Hui Zhao stood out as the most compelling. Their relationship was well-developed, and their dynamic was beautifully explored. Hao De’s honesty and Shen Hui Zhao’s integrity made their love story believable and heartfelt. The last couple added a humorous element to the show, though their dynamic sometimes leaned into unnecessary violence. Nevertheless, their relationship successfully depicted the wild yet amusing nature of young love.
Leshan was another entertaining character, standing out with her unwavering honesty and upright nature. Her humorous personality added much-needed lighthearted moments to the series. Special mention must go to Fan Liang Han, whose natural comedic timing made him the funniest character in the show.
Beyond the romance and comedy, Perfect Match excelled in its portrayal of family dynamics. From the deep sisterly bonds to the depiction of a devoted single mother willing to do anything for her daughters, the drama captured the essence of familial love. Even the sons-in-law had their own secret alliances, adding an extra layer of warmth and humor and their commitment to their women and the family was also something nice. The drama successfully conveyed the comforting and supportive nature of a true family, making it one of its strongest aspects.
Overall, I would rate Perfect Match an 8.5 out of 10. Despite the script’s imperfections, unnecessary scenes, and missing moments, it remains an enjoyable and well-acted drama. With stronger writing and better utilization of its talented cast, it could have been even more impactful.
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My reccomendation for those who can't start this show or dropped it? Watch the directors cut till episode 2, the first 20 minutes, then go to the normal cut episode 14. I know the show starts off slow but IT IS WORTH EVERY SECOND!
For anyone who doesn't have Netflix, you can search for the 33 episode of You Are My Sunshine on Dramanice.to, episode 33 (they also have the directors cut as episodes 33, 34, 35, and 36) then switch to episode 14.
Happy watching! :)
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Deserves the praises it's getting
When I first read about the story, I wasn't expecting this series to be amazing though I thought it could at least be decent. It remains that the story isn't exactly the sort that blows one's mind with twists or unexpected plotlines, but this turns out to be a good thing. It is a relatively simple story that is turned into a series that is made very well in practically every way.In the story, Tian, who suffers from a heart disease, gets a heart transplant. He finds out that the donor is a volunteer teacher in a remote village, and he decides to volunteer for the same job. But this is BL, so you can obviously expect a romance here. At first, I was wondering if Tian would just fall in love with his donor's boyfriend and turn into some kind of replacement for her. But this is certainly not the case. The heart donor is in love with Tian's love interest when she's still alive, but her feelings are actually not reciprocated.
The story doesn't go out of its way to pander to BL fans. Again, this can be a good thing. The other characters are given a chance to be portrayed with nuance, which makes the story of the main characters better. Whether it is the villain who has an understatedly menacing aura or the kindly village chief who is surprisingly wise, the characterization enhances the story. I haven't read the original novel, but I dare say this is a wonderful adaptation because it is so easy to spoil things even with a solid original story that is followed faithfully.
Mix, who plays Tian, has a rather challenging role. Apart from the complicated emotions the character undergoes, Mix has to portray the change in Tian after his heart transplant. But it's not a 180-degree change (and there are subtle developments after the heart transplant too), so it's harder than playing two different characters. Mix manages to play Tian before and after the transplant impressively well. It's not often that we have a new actor who manages to portray the character's emotions without any lines, as Mix does in the last episode when he looks around the hut wistfully and starts tearing up.
Earth plays Phupha, Tian's love interest well enough too, though I'm not sure if I entirely understand the character. Phupha's liking for Tian is quite obvious and he even progresses to blatant flirting with Tian. Yet, it is later revealed that he knows Tian's identity (Tian's father is an influential man) from the start, and he later behaves as though Tian should leave the village and forget about him because Tian has a better life to lead. (Oh, then what's up with all the flirting in the first place?) But perhaps this is love--maybe when he falls more deeply in love with Tian, he wants the best for Tian, even if it means he has to lose Tian?
Perhaps one weakness of 1000 Stars is that it's so good that it belongs to a class of its own and loses some of the trademark fluff of the BL genre. There is, for instance, side BL couple at all. And while most BL focus on the BL romance at the expense of everything else in the story, 1000 Stars doesn't sacrifice the other elements of the story. (An example is when Tian is about the leave the village in the last episode. We can see that he is genuinely emotional about leaving the village and the children he has taught, and it's not just about Phupha's absence or his yet-to-be-fulfilled romance. ) One other series that I think is like that is Until We Meet Again, but it seems that praise for 1000 Stars approaches unanimity more closely.
Ultimately, 1000 Stars is a BL series that BL fans can appreciate for its strengths, but it is also a really good series to watch even if you aren't into BL (well, as long as you have nothing against male-male romance).
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