I actually didn't know I'd like the cast as much as I did. Shinohara Ryoko did such a great job in portraying her character. I wasn't really all too thrilled with the portrayal of Sakura in the beginning, but her funny, loyal, over-the-top self managed to grow in me really fast.. Which applies for the rest of the cast as well.
As for the music, there was nothing that stuck out to me. Everything was very fitting for this drama, but nothing too extraordinary to mention. Overall, I enjoyed watching this a lot. This kind of drama goes to prove that you don't need the young, popular idols in order to make a good drama. The type of friendship and romance this drama portrayed was enough for me to stick around all 11 episodes. It'll make you laugh, possibly even cry depending on which guy you root for, and will show you the value of friendship and real every day situations. I would definitely watch this again, one of the best J-Dramas I've seen this year.
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Soft, but heavy
A beautiful and moving series. Perhaps it generates a little too much frustration. The story is beautiful, the acting even more so. It has a soft atmosphere, but at the same time it is heavy and at times painful. It shows various aspects of life, in particular how we can change, succeed, fail, feel lonely and inadequate in a world that demands so much, when in the end the problem is that WE don't accept ourselves.It shows the importance of presence, both in family life and in friendships and relationships. I was disappointed that the relationship with the protagonist's family was not explored in more depth at the end, given that it played a fundamental role in the first half of the series.
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Comedy & Crime
This drama is NOT to be taken seriously. SIG is his usually wonderful self, this time bouncing around as a shaman, who is secretly trying to avenge his friend's murder. He used to be a profiler & uses that in his fortune-telling. The team at Cafe Minamdong is just fun, although those who hate slapstick, exaggerated comedy will not like them.The police team are also fun, although the two junior detectives were a bit over the top even for me. I liked the female lead (really, people! WTF is wrong with her? She's a cop, going after criminals!), and the older mentor just is one of those seasoned Korean actors that brings verisimilitude to every role he takes.
The mystery has an interesting twist - I wondered after about the 8th episode, but it didn't fully reveal itself until nearly the end, and did so in a very good way. I've watched a lot of dramas with this kind of thing before that have not done this as seamlessly or logically, frankly - playing with the audience or using shock value (or both, like Mouse ). This one did it well.
All in all this was just a fun, refreshing drama for me to watch - nothing heavy, satisfying action, very few true plot holes or logic fails (other than some over the top kinds of comedic situations), and just, SIG being very funny & appealing throughout.
I find all the negative reviews ridiculous, frankly.
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Yes, it's kind of flawed and has its plot holes, but considering the original writer dropped out and another writer had to come in and pick up the pieces, it's pretty darn good. At times it did feel like different writers were writing different parts. It would go from Comedy to Horror to Action, for example. However, in the end, I think the last scene represented the drama real well as a whole. Basically, bright and colorful, but one hot mess. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
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The reason you should watch this.....
According to me this drama has everything that you look for in a drama. After reading the synopsis of the drama in MDL and you feel like you understood the story, then you are mistaken. I wanna complain about the way where only few people have watched this drama until now. It is such an underrated drama.The story, especially the way the games were designed, is the highlight of this drama. Every game they play is so interesting and dreadful. I love the screenplay and the writing. Kudos to the author, the screenwriter, the director and the actors for making this drama happen.
Coming to the acting, everybody have done a phenomenal job. Kudos to them. Yeah, like I said there is everything in this drama friendship, fear, happiness, love, jealousy, romance, subtle comedy. I don't know how others felt regarding Xiao Kai Zhong's(Qiang Ge's) acting, but to me he is the entertainer in the entire show. According to me he is a comedian(this is the highest praise I give to someone) in this drama.
Yeah, I do some complaints other than this show not being recognized by a larger audience. That is this technology that they introduced in the drama is too much for me to believe. It just felt like something that only happens in a drama not in reality. Also, I did feel like Chun Yu's character could have been played by someone else. Sun Qian did a great job but idk why I felt that way.....
PS - Irrespective of the genre you like, my suggestion is WATCH THIS DRAMA!!!!
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This review may contain spoilers
--Note: this review contains minor spoilers--If I had to describe Man of Honor in one word it would be disappointing, because disappoint it will. The story was supposed to be about a nurse and a baseball player who find love in their journey. This was EXTREMELY misleading. Yun Jae In (Park Min Young) was a nurse in training, and Kim Young Kwang (Chun Jung Myung) was a washed up baseball player with one successful game in his career, for about two episodes (and one more after being absent for 20 episodes). The remainder of the series mainly deals with faux-cest and revenge. The story was very makjang driven and unstable. It seemed like the writer didn't really know where he was going with the story, which made it feel unfinished towards the end.
Despite these flaws, Man of Honor was fairly enjoyable until midway through, after about episode 12, the story went on an unsalvageable downward spiral.
While the main problem lies within the writing, the acting was also poor. There was a lot of overacting, and Park Min Young looked as though she had a mental illness when she smiled widely for minutes on end.
Overall, this is not a drama that I would recommend, and it is longer than the average of 16 episodes (this one totals 24). There are many good to outstanding dramas out there that can be substituted for this much inferior one.
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AKA boys on crutches
AKA so many confused bisexualsThis one gave me My Engineer vibes from the start, only with a better main couple, but much weaker side dishes. This is OLD school Thai uni BL. It felt like it was meant to come out in 2018 but I was grateful to get it in 2021. It went up against GMMTV’s FUTS without the same level of production or quality control and STILL knocked it out of the water (or sky, as it were).
Neither offering was strong on story but Nitiman had more redeemable and sympathetic characters, a great tsundere uke redemption arc, and a fantastic pining seme who yearned without bullying, grooming, or gaslighting his uke.
It was very much a university drama in that there were lovable surrounding friendship groups for both main characters with their own relationships, issues, and nosiness. I really like it when uni BL feels socially collegiate.
All that said, absolutely nothing happened in this BL. And I thought Oxygen lacked drama. I enjoyed it but it felt a bit just like really good vanilla ice cream, I was left rather scrabbling for the missing peach cobbler. In other words… was there a point? Do I care to eat vanilla ice cream for it’s own sake when I consider it the condiment of the dessert world? I honestly don’t have an answer.
You’re gonna have to watch it for yourself and decide if it’s you flavor.
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This review may contain spoilers
For the most part this drama was ok. I really enjoy slice of life dramas as they usually a commentary or a reflection on life but I felt like it that didn't really happen in this drama.
What was weird about this drama was that it was slow paced and over done at the same time. Weird combo but they did it. Usually with slice of life, the drama is slow paced and progresses naturally with very little or no "action conflict" i.e. fight scenes and whatnot, which is what happened. But then on the flip side the drama had a lot to unpack. Childhood trauma for both Male and Female Leads, the long pining love romance but then betrayal love triangle for the FL, with family secrets, stigma against the ML and many, many, many subplots.
Somewhere along the way I lost the point of the show when the emerging subplots took over. It became all about the secondary characters and not about the leads and with so many people coming to the forefront I lost all relatability with the characters. So I guess that my biggest problem with the show is that I lost the connection I was developing in the beginning with the characters.
I liked the OSTs and the instrumentals as the helped set the tone in the first half of the series. The acting was good, especially with Seo Kang Joon and Moon Jung Hee. Their performances were really outstanding for this drama which was probably the main reason I watched till the end. The end however was unsatisfactory to me.
Not sure if I expressed my point of view well but I think the show is definitely one to watch and I would surely recommend.
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My only complaint is that I wanted more episodes,I mean, how could they end at just 8 episodes? But there has been reports that other 8 episodes are already filmed, so fingers crossed for that.
You can watch it on Netflix if you are in the mood of something light and mushy.
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It's incredibly rare for me to give 10 to something because I think that's the vote reserved to just masterpieces and nothing else but that's exactly what is Sotus for me: a masterpiece and the most beautiful and perfect love story I've ever seen.
I love every aspect of this drama, the actors are great (especially the two leads who seem really in love, I was blown away by their performance, they deliver all the feelings in an incredible realistic way) the characters are all likeable and adorable, the music is beautiful and perfect in every scene, the love story is finally a realistic one (I was so tired of the love at first sight of movies and drama..) that keep me in tension since the very beginning ... I have no complain at all and I have to say that I hope that there won't be a second season, I'm too afraid that if there is the magic will be ruined by the same old cliches ..
I must, howewer, admit that not all in this series is perfect, there are some incredible bad mistakes like bracelets that change to one arm to the other and many things like this that could have been avoided with more attention.. the sound also is somethimes really bad but I know that is a problem of all the Thai series.
These two problems anyway for me don't ruin at all the magic that I feel in this serie that I must say it became my favourite serie of all time... yes, I'm madly in love with Sotus XD
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DON'T JUDGE BY THE RATING, THIS IS THE BEST ROMANTIC DRAMA
This is my honest review. At first, I am not really into in to this drama because I thought that this is just an ordinary romantic drama. But I tried to continue watching, and now I can say that "THIS IS THE BEST DRAMA". The story is amazing, kind of realistic relationship between two people. How do you find a love, loving each other, how to love our self, to understand the partner, and yea maybe there is a part a little bit frustrating of the story, but you have to watch, why there is a "frustrating scene". There is a reason for that, so don't stop in episode 2, you will get nothing. The line of this drama is so deep, really.The concept of this drama is fresh, like an interview. The way they tell us about their story just funny for me, like they are talking with us. Some people can't accept this new concept, but this is good concept. I mean it. Beside the good story, the ost of this drama just beautiful. Every scene has their own music, so you seem carried away into that emotion.
Ji Chang Wook is the best actor for this role. You can see by yourself from ep 1, how the emotion change every scene every episode, so does with Kim Ji won. If you watch episode 8 you can see that they are the best actors. They are perfect couple for this drama. The chemistry, the emotion just amazing.
Overall, this drama is amazing. The story, the cast, the music, cinematography, color, the view are really good. So don't judge by rating. You have to watch it first.
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1This review may contain spoilers
awesome setting/styling, slightly confusing plot (watch suggestions)
Overall: while I loved the setting/styling, there were way too many characters/plot for 12 episodes and I was ambivalent about the romance aspect with the leads. Because of the collaboration, actual kisses & wide release, this got a bit of a rating boost. The series is based on a book but I reviewed the series on its own merits. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired 2 episodes per week on: YouTube, GagaOOLala, Viki, iQIYI, WeTV, Loklok & Heavenly (more info at the end of this review)Content Warnings: murders/deaths, rape?/non con turned consensual?, suicide, non con kissing, strangling, manhandling, fights/violence, blood, torture, manipulation, drugging, theft, kidnapping
Watch Suggestions (focuses on the leads, takes out love triangle, most violence/angst/pain)
- watch episodes 1-5 (beware episode 1 has non con/dub con)
- watch episode 6 at 31 minutes if you want a plot explainer
- skip episode 7 (angst and torture)
- episode 8 watch 5m30s-9 for a side couple, the rest is angst, pain, love triangle stuff
- episode 9 start at 29 minutes and watch to the end to get more plot developments
- episode 10 skip 7:30-20 or watch the whole episode
- episode 11 start at 11 min to 14:40, 18:30-20:20, 23:45-25
- episode 12 watch 7:45-18, 26:30-30, 34:10 to the end
What I Liked
- an opposites attract dynamic
- sweet moments
- setting/style
- really happy that a character convinced another character not to see/forgive a truly terrible character in episode 12
- got actual, shown kisses
- the production really made an effort to get this on as many platforms and to as many people as they could, they also wrote out the countries on their social media that had access to each platform
- collaborative effort between China, Taiwan and Thailand; hope this was successful and we see more collaborations
Room For Improvement
- exposition dump to start the series
- too many characters and plot given and I was confused until finally in episode 6 at 31 minutes they explained the plot more clearly, spent too much time on the leads apart
- wish they had modified the scenes in episode 1 and in episode 6
- how no one was concerned about the sister's fate
- wanted more relationship development shown of the side couple, it seemed that it mostly happened off screen
- Su Yin was infuriating and had way too much screen time
- the dubbing especially with 1 character (I guess he was speaking Thai and then they dubbed over it)
- odd camera angles
Thoughts on Grey Characters/Their Romantic Relationships
Sometimes these characters and their dynamic work for me and other times they don't. Here are the factors that I think about:
1. was there a realistic reason why the character/s acted the way they did in the past (Huai En was tortured/abused/manipulated his whole life but that doesn't forgive what he may have done in ep 6)
2. how bad was/is the treatment (because this is fade to black and based on reaction afterwards, I'm not sure if episode 6 was rape or turned consensual but it was still terrible, and in episode 9 he was choking the other lead)
3. were both characters grey or was one squeaky clean (Xiao Bao was pretty squeaky clean, he's very dense, Huai En was a cold blooded killer)
4. was there some kind of apology/amend making (I don't think Huai En apologized, he did save Xiao Bao and his family and risked his life to do so)
5. was there character growth (episode 9 and Huai En was still physically violent, in episode 11 he did have a revelation of the tighter he tried to hold on to Xiao Bao the more he slipped away)
6. do I believe that the characters will stay together in a happy romantic relationship (maybe)
final verdict: I'm nervous that the first time Xiao Bao looks at another attractive person Huai En will rape/kill him, but they did seem pretty happy at the end
Airing Platforms/Links/Countries (country info was from the production company)
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkzvQsQu-ofvkwO5v1gax9jqOYNYvhWN4
Airing everywhere except: Thailand, Japan and South Korea
GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4541/meet-you-at-the-blossom-2024-e01
Airing everywhere except: Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong China, Vietnam, Philippines, Canada, Australia, India, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Brazil.
Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/40650c-meet-you-at-the-blossom
Airing: Americas, Oceania, Middle East, Europe, India
iQIYI https://www.iq.com/album/meet-you-at-the-blossom-2024-1689d4pr2sl
Airing: USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Macau China, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Brazil
WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/album/c5o1ffdwm6yhwy5
Airing: Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Macau China, United States, Canada, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal
Loklok - airing: Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Mexico, Spain, Russia
Heavenly - airing in South Korea
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1It’s another show about a confident jerk male lead and a nice and madly in love female lead who is willing to get dumped countless times and still cannot give up on the dude. What is surprising, though: they are both somehow likable (many would disagree, so don't quote me on that). I wanted to slap Soo back to reality more than once, but I also loved all his scenes and found him to be an interesting character. Woo Yeon, even though desperate with her unrequited love, still seemed like a strong character that is slowly gaining more confidence and learning how to put herself first. The flaws were presented in a way that made me curious about the development, rather than annoyed with their current state.
The show is full of cliches, but I was weirdly not mad about them at all. I saw these plotlines in other dramas, I should be bored, but somehow I wasn’t. Why? Because I cared for these characters. I was emotionally attached to them and was genuinely interested in their stories.
I also have to appreciate they at least tried to give a better explanation for Soo being such a selfish jerk. It wasn’t just random, short conversations we usually get in dramas to explain the behavior. His past was mixed well in the overall plot and, even though it did not excuse his actions, it made me understand him more.
They took a similar approach with Woo Yeon. While she was a weak person in terms of her love life and the desperation she presented, she also was strong and striving to achieve her dreams. She wasn’t weak in all areas of her life. She was flawed in one. And that made her an interesting character.
The chemistry between all the characters was amazing. Not only romance felt natural, but also the friendship between the main and supporting cast. Nothing felt forced or unrealistic. Great acting from the cast for sure helped achieve that.
The sub-plots were also interesting, with 2 supporting couples bringing something different to the table. We got comedy and we got melo. Such a striking difference, but even when their scenes were one right after another, it never felt disconnected or like they belonged to different shows. The flow and transitions were just right.
For me it was just a fun romantic comedy that had a good amount of sub plot surrounding the main one. Nothing felt like useless fillers for me (though I am sure many people would disagree).
Do I think this drama could have been shorter? Sure. I honestly believe getting 12 and not 16 episodes would be ideal, but I have exactly the same opinion about ALL romantic comedies. They are just not meant for a longer format. The last 4 episodes were painfully full of cliches. I'm pretty sure I saw my brain a few times when I rolled my eyes so hard. That said, I am unable to name even one rom-com that avoided cliches at the end. I think it's just given and expected in the genre.
Overall, if you cannot get over the over-confident male lead that is extremely selfish most of the time and desperate for his love female lead, this ain’t for you. The characters are far more than the flaws, and I myself found them likable, but if these are your personal pet peeves, you will not like it.
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Meandering plot that leads to nowhere, unresolved subplots, ridiculous ending
The series started off decent enough. I was rating this a 7.0 at Episode 6. By Episode 10, I was completely disillusioned by the terrible writing that didn't really allow Lee Jong Suk, Im Yoon Ah and Kwak Dong Yeon to display a wider range of their acting skills. Surprisingly for me, Yoo Tae Joo is probably the best thing to emerge from this chaotic, confusing mess.This series spent more than half of its episodes in the penitentiary. It wasted most of its time getting the audience trying to guess who Big Mouse is, who in the world is the "invincible" guy who managed to swindle something like 100 billion from crooks in the upper echelon of a shady corporation. The possible suspect moved from person to person, and this was how the drama dragged its feet from Episode 1 until Episode 10. The inanity.
The mayor, Choi Do Ha, turning out to be the big bad was no surprise, it was obvious from the point he sought out Park Chang Ho and got him involved in his quest to retrieve the ever so secretive "scientific paper". CDH's reasons to enlist PCH's help was superficial and illogical, it just didn't make sense to me. Right here and there is a big glaring plothole. There's no such thing as a "secretive scientific paper". Do the writers know that peer research papers go through a lengthy review process and is processed dozens of times before the final publication can be made? There's no way a paper that exposes the hazards of a radioactive substance of that magnitude can be kept secret for so long. It's just ridiculous writing.
Not to mention Hye Jin's murder was unnecessary, and to top it off, her death didn't even serve any purpose other than providing nonsensical shock value to the audience. She escaped to the US only to come back to get murdered. LOL. Why? If I were thousand of kilometres from my psychopathic ex, I wouldn't go back to where he was. Yeah, her ex-husband is worse than scum, and he didn't even get punished for her murder. Her body was never found! This subplot was completely dropped by the writers. For what? Yeah the mayor Choi Do Ha is also scum for helping him dump Hye Jin's body. Then it turned out Choi Do Ha wasn't even Choi Do Ha, he usurped the identity of a dead boy! What in the world. LMAO. Tell me how you do that as a kid. Who helped this kid changed his legal papers? This trope is tired and old, and honestly if people want to pull this in modern storylines, they need to provide a more viable and cogent explanation.
After all the twists and turns this drama flipped out, it was revealed that Big Mouse is really not a single entity. It's one guy, who's the head of some secret organisation, like Freemasonry, but mafia ala vigilante-style, with some dozens of members who abide by a set of organisational "code" - that also wasn't made clear to the watchers. Lmao I don't even know how to describe this circus house - this is the worst drama Lee Jong Suk has ever been in.
There was a scene where Park Chang Ho was tortured in a white chamber - why?! To extract information about the 100 billion dollars he siphoned off - allegedly. After he became Big Mouse, did PCH expend any energy to find this place he was held in, and did he bust it with his newly gained cronies of the Big Mouse organization so as to prevent future abductions and illegal imprisonment? No. And because of that, while we saw that the mayor truly "loved" his wife Joo Hee, in the end he nevertheless subjected her to the same white chamber torture after learning that she had betrayed him. It was just so inconsistent with their characterisations.
Holy crap, I still have so much to go on, but I'm trying to end this review quickly. The loving relationship Park Chang Ho had with his wife Ko Mi Ho was dealt a cruel blow after she was exposed to "radioactive" water. She quickly developed cancer, which progressed to Stage 4, within weeks of exposure. Like?? LOL, that's crazy. First of all, the drama told us NK9 is a highly toxic material that was found in the wastewater of their plant, but we weren't told how toxic it was. We just have to believe that it's super-super toxic, okay? I wonder if the writers came up with this idea from the time Japan announced dumping wastewater from the Fukushima plant into the ocean, which was met by protests and condemnations from Korea and China, but endorsed by the US. Anyway, in real life, allegedly, drinking water with radionuclides in it could take years for harmful effects to show, and yes, that includes an increased risk in cancer like leukemia. But the people in the drama who had contact with this radionuclides-filled water actually developed leukemia and died within weeks after its one and only exposure (Tak Kwang Yeon, Ko Mi Ho)! What's even more hilarious is that Choi Do Ha was eventually killed by the same radioactive water (that looked as clean and clear as your normal chlorinated pool water btw) on the same day he swam in it. Upon being told by Chang Ho that the water was radioactive, Do Ha then crashed into the pool like a plank. LMAO.
So what about the 100 billion that everyone was after in the first place? The 100 billion that placed Park Chang Ho in this predicament he said he didn't want to be in? Where is it? Gone, Soon Tae said. Someone stole it, and that was that. No mention of it ever again. What about the hospital that Joo Hee was serving director at, the hospital that had forced the next-of-kin of their dying patients to sign DNR agreements? Joo Hee had been serving at the hospital as a director, there's no way she was ignorant of all the criminal activities in the hospital. She's very much aware, and her last minute redemption by exposing everything her husband had done gave no closure on whether she was being held accountable for her actions as well. For a massive scandal like that, she would have been imprisoned IRL. I mean, really, what about the rushed cremations of the dead patients, what about the evil head nurse and all the other bitchy nurses who distributed life-threatening pills and injections, masquerading them as flu shots, medicine and vitamins? There was no comeuppance for them. Nothing. So really, what the hell did I just watch?
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