Reviews

My bittersweet memories

This is gonna get kinda personal, I'm letting you know upfront so you can decide if reading my review is worth your time.

When I first read Utsukushii Kare synopsis I didn't thought it was that special, but I decided to give it a try because I really liked the poster, they look so pretty surrounded by flowers. So you can imagine I was quite shocked to find myself relating so deeply with its characters and story.

Hira and I have a lot in common. I once met someone who I feel deeply in love with, but I was too young to understand or deal with my feelings properly, so I would just do everything the person I liked asked me to and try my best to make them happy. I saw myself as inferior to them, and thought I was so lucky to be allowed to walk by their side. Nobody was more important to me, nobody could compare, I was so enamoured I became blind. Now that I'm older, I know I was kinda stupid (but who isn't right). I also know loving like this can make you suffer. You can't put people on pedestals and turn them into Kings, they are just human, they are flawed, and seeing them as more than that will be painful for the both of you.

I am so happy and touched we got to see how Kiyoi felt about all this. I know many people can't understand him or connect with his character, but I wish we all could see that it's hard for him as well. He had his own problems to deal and then Hira showed up and even without meaning to, changed everything. One of the most important moments for me is when Kiyoi says to Hira "You will never understand my feelings". Yes, Hira cares a lot about Kiyoi, but he created a version of Kiyoi based on what he sees on the surface and doesn't let himself get closer, to really know Kiyoi as a person, because he's afraid and has a negative image of himself.

I think I saw someone say how Utsukushii Kare is a story about two people who struggle, each in your own way, with connecting with others and receiving/giving love, and I couldn't agree more. Kiyoi wishes to be an idol, to receive love and be adored, even recognizing that being famous can lead to a lonely life, because at least then he will be loved. But over the years he realizes what he really yearns for is human contact and the attention of one person in particular. Hira uses his camera to distance himself from everyone, he's socially awkward and prefers to keep to himself, believing that's the way the things are and there's nothing he can do to change it. Still he yearns for connection, so when a person so beautiful and interesting as Kiyoi enter his life, he can't resist. But he can't handle changes, and the possibility that Kiyoi and him could be something is too wild to even consider. When confronted, and after a lot of angst, he starts to change his way of thinking and finally the obstacles they created to keep the other apart are destroyed.

I don't know if the drama portrayed this part as well as it could. Speaking from experience - it's very difficult to overcome low self-esteem, and it can takes years to deconstruct the hierarchy you built in your mind. I think we will probably see more of this side if we get a season 2, I'm very curious about how Hira and Kiyoi's relationship would evolve. I also am not here to say that it's a "healthy portrait of a relationship", but most relationships in real life aren't, so I don't see the problem on someone wanting to tell a story about 2 complex men having a complex relationship. The "is this toxic or not" discussion doesn't lead anywhere, and it's getting boring to be honest. If you don't wanna see something that may cause you discomfort, stop watching. Your feelings are valid and you should take care of yourself, if Utsukushii Kare disturbs you that much, go watch something else.

I guess it's pretty clear I'm happy Utsukushii Kare exists. I saw myself in Hira, and I think many others will too. Knowing that there are people who understand how I feel makes me feel less alone. I understand just a little bit more how someone in Kiyoi's place would feel, and I learned how I was in a way not respecting the feelings and thoughts of someone I used to love. It's harder than it seems, to love and be loved. I just hope someone feels as comforted as I after finishing this drama.

Ps: if it's hard to understand something, sorry, English is not my native language.

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If you do watch this drama and have triggers I personally recommend not watching this at all.
At the start I was excited knowing some of my favourite actors were in this.
I found it almost impossible to finish watching this drama.
The acting was outstanding. But the storyline was horrid.
This drama has several triggers in it.
It almost looked like the writers were trying to romanticise r_pe.
The fact their was a happy ending even though he had tried to r_ape her more than once was just unimaginable.
Definitely will NOT watch this drama or recommend it to my friends.

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Intriguing main characters and original side stories

The story did not have anything extraordinary, but the acting made it live. The drama is the type with a calm intrigue, which I usually avoid, but I felt like this one was different from the usual excitement of Thai BLs.

Like I said, the story is about a guy who meets a guy, very basic. But the characters themselves were really original, which did not tire me (over clichés). And something they REALLY well are the side stories. Original characters AND stories, in the first and second couple. You haven't figured out what is going on until you have. Of course, sometimes I felt bored and I skipped whenever I was not interested (I'm a skipper), but I liked the majority of the drama, main couple or not.

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Cute and Fluffy romance, but too much going on for a short drama

"Destined to Meet You" is a short drama with a very complicated plot. With only 20 episodes at 10 mins each (about 3 hrs runtime), it tries to cover too many tropes. - love at first sight, contract relationship, tragic past, amnesia, fight for inheritance and more.

If the drama sticks to 2-3 of these tropes, the story would have developed more coherently and there would be fewer plot holes. But if you don't want to think too much and just want to enjoy a sweet romance, this is a good watch. The chemistry between the leads is pretty good, and the acting is decent. I have always liked Yang Ze and would like to see him in fewer web short dramas like this or "The Killer is also Romantic" but in bigger productions like in "No Boundary".

I have a hard time with the dubbed voices and find the FL's voice slightly annoying in the beginning. Nonetheless, their interaction is cute. It's nice to see a girl taking the initiative in a relationship. I thought she would be a little more experienced in love since she's 5 years older, but she acts like she doesn't know much in the beginning. Their relationship progresses well throughout the drama. The secondary couple is OK to me. A few comedic moments of 2FL's clumsiness but not much depth to their storyline.

Overall, it's a quick and easy watch to kill time, and I like the songs.


Completed: 1/18/2023

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Story :
It’s such a good drama. Really. Not just because the actor is Kimura Takuya who I adore the most in my teenage day. LOL. It talks about the traumatic in the brain which caused Ieji lost his memory and saw his present wife and son in a mask. I don't know if that possible in a real world or not, but the idea is interesting enough for me. Well, the lack of detail for me is just that they don’t really explain why Ieji saw a mask on his wife and son face (even the silliest explanation). I know it's the side effect of the accident, but why mask? Why not something else? But after all, it’s good movie ^_^

Acting/Cast :
Kimura Takuya acting is not something for debated or questioned, he can be anyone he told to be ^_^ As for Ueto Aya, I can't clearly seen her acting in this drama because most of the time she wore a mask.. ^_^;

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More Than What You Think

First A Warning. This drama contains a fair amount of triggering/sensitive content (other than just the student-teacher relationship.) It can be incredibly cringy at times but if you can get past the cringy-ness then this drama can be quite the entertaining ride. Shocking and cringey but entertaining.

It's a bit difficult to write a review about this drama without giving away any spoilers because the description would have you believe this drama is just about a teacher and her student and their taboo relationship but there’s really a lot more to this drama that is revealed as the story progresses. There's bullying, revenge, scandal, past secrets, deception, and obsession/stalking, and not all from people you would normally suspect.

If you were to drop this drama in the first few episodes you would completely miss out on so much more story. There are many moving parts and storylines that trickle out all the way until the last episode. While the first couple of episodes seem a bit ridiculous in terms of how the ML acts towards the FL and how the FL reacts to him, about halfway through this drama things take a big turn.

I was not expecting so many little twists and turns. At times I was thoroughly shocked but no matter what was happening I could not stop watching and I'm glad I didn't because things really weren't always what they seemed to be. It's been a long time since I've been so surprised and entertained.

The romance was okay. It wasn't x-rated by any means. There were some very satisfying kisses.

As for the acting, I've seen Tiffany Hsu's acting before. She's a good actress and her performance here is very good even though her character had to be quite cold and somewhat stoic. There are reasons she acts the way she does. I didn't quite understand why her character didn't react the way I would think she would but again, there's more to her character's story...

The acting by Edward Chen wound up being very good. I found him so annoying as a teenage spoiled brat. At first, I didn't like him at all, but then I realized that a teen boy can be like that. Annoying, obnoxious, and immature. Sometimes he may have overacted but that was mainly in the beginning and sort of phased out as the story played out.

If you're looking for a story that has some unexpected turns then this is a story for you. There is a cringe factor here but I think it was all worth it. Overall, this drama is quite a wild ride.

I doubt I would rewatch this drama again because the shock value is gone but I definitely enjoy watching.

Would Recommend
Would Not Re-watch

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CORNIEST BUT FUNNIEST BL DRAMA

The core strength of this series originated from its shallow yet comedic scenes. What did I drink to make every silly lines laughable? If I could remove one character here, then it is Nueng. I don't want to be rude but his existence is pointless. All of the characters have their share of funny/worthy scenes but his scenes are too problematic.

Seeing how low the overall rating is, I could say a lot of people watched this expecting that this will be a serious and complicated series jampacked with romantic scenes. Try to do some quick research first. Well, there are some unreasonable instances that I remember which I can't stand though (not even resolved properly):

1. The use of a rape victim to rape someone
2. Selective discrimination
3. Physical assault
4. Identity Crisis

Homophobic scenes are not a concern for me. In my point-of-view and although we are living in the modern era, it just shows that we must still face the adversities while the world is trying to change. Raising awareness to this kind of issues comes with facing the reality.

Referencing SOTUS series is a YES for me. I just finished it a few days ago and it is a good series for me too.

The casts made this a very watchable series. I never thought I would see Khaotung (as Chonlatee) who acts a cutey childish role. He really nails it and I realized that he's a versatile actor. There is Mike-Top-Ciize with their lovely flirty relationship. Neo (as Na) has the corniest execution and lines I've ever seen but the weird thing is I find his role funny that I still laugh on his corny jokes. Kapook (as Amp) portrayed well as a wicked evil soul. They all did a fantastic job!

There are minor scenes that I hate a little bit but overall, this was entertaining. I've never laughed so hard in a series since I watched Bad Buddy before. This is such an underrated series. I never expected to be this low. It should range from 7.8-8.0 out of 10.

IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH THIS WITH A SERIOUS AND COMPLICATED MINDSET, THEN DON'T! This is a series with 70% Comedy and 20% Romance and 10% Drama mixture.

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Probaly not worth your time.

The story is about an apocalypse. It had potential but they messed this movie (sadly) up in different ways.
First, the leads acting feels really weak and they don't move me at all. The main character is stumbling around, falling down, and then waddling around on the ground like an invalide thoughout the whole movie (and I am not overreacting I do think in the whole movie he fell down like 50 times).
Second, we're missing a good story or plot here and I don't think their actions or anything what happend was realistic. It was sometimes so boring that I skipper some scenes.
And thirth I didn't like the music at all, somehow it didn't fit the scenes.
The most annoying thing is that movie had real potential! The scenery was very good (some special effects too) but they didn't do anything with it, if it would have a more interesten story and better actors (IMO) it would have been a good movie.

Watch this if you like apocalypse movies.
Skip this if you are looking for a great story with amazing acting.

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That open ended ending was indeed scripted that way for a reason...
Here come the spoilers if you have not seen episode six.

The perfect fiancé is not ordering dinner! He is ordering a hit on Angie ! There goes the bride!
Not a sweetheart after all! ( Enter communal sigh here.)

And her dad who was pretty nice and low-key as far as triad bosses go , will show just how bad-ass he can be
when he has to protect Angie and her crush. Forget about his ties to future son-in-law’s triad dad. This could get ugly or funny!

I really enjoyed this different type of drama and fell in like with Jasper Liu. December cannot come soon enough! Mind you I will have to rematch season one for continuity’s sake.

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Really Good, Last 5 Eps DESTROYED it!

I didn't watch S1 and S2, but really enjoyed S3. The eps were short 25 - 30 minutes each so moved at a pretty good clip especially the first 10 eps. Episode 10 -20 really started to drag and I had to fast forward past a lot of scenes, namely everything relating to the secondary characters, I just didn't care about the Director and the jealous girlfriend, nor the other rich guy and Chen relationship. I loved the ML/FL together, they had a really strong, mature relationship. I loved that the FL didn't let herself be bullied by people around her. In the first 10 eps there was this weird conflict with some actress who arbitrarily decided she wanted to steal the FL's husband. For reasons. So she became a very cliche conniving homewrecker. For NO REASON.

She literally had no relationship with the FL husband, had no idea who the guy was until she saw a strange camper on set and wanted to know who owned it. Her assistant found out, then she looked him up on the internet and found out he was handsome and rich. Then decided "Well, that's my man!" When she found out "her man" was dating the FL she decided to try and destroy her. Even finding out they were actually married didn't stop her. It was ridiculous.

After that it was just a nice, easy going drama and they clearly ran out of plot at around Ep 20 and then it just dragged and after everything they went through (which, honestly, wasn't much) and all of their promises, they just decide to break up in Ep 33. And I was like WTF? And the reason for the break up was about as stupid and lame as you can get - because they felt they were holding each other back. That's the stupidest reason to separate. He was a 3rd generation chaebol! They had the money and family support to do whatever the hell they wanted.

This wasn't like most of these type of rich boy/poor girl stories, he wasn't pressured to take over the family business. He didn't have domineering, snobby parents that hated his wife, there was no marriage contract. No conniving, spoiled "best friend." None of that. The only slight obstacle in their life was the spoiled actress in the first few eps causing drama. They had all the support and time they needed to "find" themselves. But that wasn't good enough, they wanted to do it on their "own." Especially the FL, her self righteous, self sufficiency became annoying.

As everyone kept saying, why make it hard on yourself when you don't need to? There's nothing wrong with accepting help. I understand her work life became difficult once everyone found out who her husband was and how frustrating it could be. But as one of her friends said, why is she still trying to be an "assistant director," when she had all the training and resources to start her own production company? Eventually she takes that advice, but immediately gives up at the first sign of trouble. Her Husband tries to be his own man by starting a few businesses that he doesn't take seriously, that immediately fail as well. That's when they just blamed each other for their own entitlement and laziness.

And they are separated for YEARS in the next 2 last ep. For some reason the FL gave up ALL HER dreams, just because people only saw her as the ML's wife. So she becomes a famous Manga writer? She never showed any creativity in the the rest of the season, but suddenly she's a famous, successful, manga writer? Ok. And the ML becomes a famous "inventor" and automotive inventor? What? This idiot? The guy had no ambition for most of the season, wasn't shown to be particularly smart, but one montage of him studying later and he's Steve Jobs? Just horrible. It destroyed an otherwise great show. If I knew this was where they were heading I would have dropped this show. It was awful.

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Great story and actors but the ending was lacking

Love the storyline and the actors. Would watch again but really didn't like the ending. Did not make sense why they took him away in secret. And they said his family wanted to keep it a secret but he only had his dad and stepmom. None of the ending made sense. The positive was that he remembered that she fancied him in the beginning. However the ending was abrupt. They could have finished it off properly. Lots of low rating and probably because of the ending more than anything.

Thought the actors did a great job and some of the scenes were beautiful. They did a great job showing the highs and lows of the relationship.

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definitely worth the watch

this show is absolutely amazing. honestly, i was a bit iffy before starting it as i hadnt ever really taken much interest in chinese dramas previously but THE STORY IS INCREDIBLE. it is so hard to dislike any character as they are so well written. every single character has depth and flaws and i count that as a win its own. the two main leads wei wuxian and lan wangji were played by xiao zhan and wang yibo who did an amazing job bringing these characters to life.

i will say however, the only faults i had with the show was that since they had a low budget the special effects were not as good as they could have been. the first two episodes start off a bit confusing but the story starts coming together around ep 3. after that, its just a rollercoaster of emotions.

the overall concept does raise interesting societal questions too. 'what is black? what is white? who is right? who is wrong?' it highlights societal judgement and views. and makes you really ponder, people might not always be as simple as they seem. there is a lot we dont know about the thoughts and morality of the people we choose to judge. people who are outcasts and looked down upon, may unexpectedly have the sweetest hearts.

after finishing the show, i even read the book to get an even better in depth idea of the characters. which is something that has never happened before. overall, if you have time and are looking for a heart wrenching story filled with plot twists, this is a must watch. i became quite a fan of this show.

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