Your blood will boil, Your heart will flutter
YOUTH OF MAY is a love story that happens to be taking place in the premise of Gwangju Uprising that had happened in May, 1980 but keep this in mind that the central story is not directly related to the democratic movement though it eventually leads to the major climax of Gwangju massacre. FYI, this uprising, that started from university student demonstration to save the democracy and it's essence, established the foundation of the rebellion against the dictatorship rule of the ones in power during the entire 80s in South Korea.Making fiction in the premises of real historical events are a great deal If you see how sentimental South Koreans are about both the nation's history and the honor of democracy, which is reasonable and everyone should be like that. There is always a thin line between what the incident is and what one writes about it. And I think the writer of YoM has done a pretty job on every level.
The story is really nice; the male lead and female lead's developing relationship not being the only thing going on, it also throws light on the events of the uprising and additional side stories of the familes of the leads. The main leads happen to be working in the medical field but it's not a medical drama, rather the healthcare premise is a shade of their work life; though a major part of last 4 episodes takes place in the hospital.
It might feel like a slow-paced story because the chemistry development between the leads are slow but there are so many other things happening so you won't be bored at all. The plot development is good and twists have been placed at right times. The director has done a good job too.
Acting? Superb! Lee Do Hyun is undoubtedly one of the most potential emerging Korean actors right now and I can see him growing to be a future superstar. His unique style of acting uff; been a fan since 18 Again. Also, the annoying Lee Do Hyun is so adorable, I just love him. So happy that his character in YoM has an annoying side too. Literally one of the few poster boys of warm pure romance Kdramas. Go Min Si, this lady has waited long enough to get a lead role and I am happy she did amazing in it. In fact, among all the actresses who have played 80s characts till now, I think she did it accurately. I really hope this will be a breakthrough in her career. Lee Sang Yi, my love, did really well even though his screen-timing was lesser than I had expected but not complaining since the dramas got only 12 episodes and his character, even though a major role, had not much to do around. Keum Sae Rok, truly won hearts playing the role of a rebellious girl of a rich household, she acted very well, ngl.
One thing to note in Lee Do Hyun's character as Hwang Hee Tae that it's different from the usual male lead character where they're all macho fighting around, protecting the female lead, etc and showing typical toxic masculinity by wrist-grabbing, non- consensual kissing and blah blah. It's sort of unique I would say for his heart is a fragile one, afraid of not being able to save someone as a doctor or to protect as a dear one. He doesn't forces things on his partner and maintains a healthy relationship and let others grow under his own shade. So respectful down-to-earth and one with a progressive mind he continues to do everything smoothly.
The set-up and management is pretty commendable given it's a period drama. The work of cinematography is not that evident but that's fine because the editing compensated for it. The OSTs are indeed beautiful and heart-wrenching and glad to have been recommended some real good 80s English and Korean tracks from the drama. .
Another important thing is that this drama taught a lots of things. Though the lives were messy and like under the cart, they taught us about life and the way of becoming stronger and braver by the days. The Gwangju uprising and the state-staged progrom to suppress the dissent by the oppressed will boil your blood for sure so make sure to learn from that too.
I won't lie that I absolutely loved it. And it would be definitely be on my good drama collections. The central story focuses on the art of loving & living and the essence of holding your life back even when you're on the verge of death. I, like everyone else, wished more than 12 episodes but anyways, the story has been well written with a good direction.
If you're confused whether to go for it or not thinking it's a period drama and that too set up in the premise of a tragic incident like Gwangju uprising, I am not gonna spoil it but I guarantee you, it's worth it.
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Definitely deserves the title of one of the best k-dramas of 2024!!
I had pretty high hopes for this one because of the cast and the unique storyline and I am happy to say it didn't disappoint me till the end!!Pros:
1) Little to no lagging
2) No overused cliches regarding the backgrounds of the leads
3) real life issues depicted in a comical manner
4) perfect amount of episodes
5) great osts and songs throughout
6) great casting choices
7) morally grey characters finding their place in life
8) teens finding love in a cute way
Cons:
1) the biggest con I had was the superpower with time every little change you make should have huge domino effects but here they pretty much ignore those aspect ig? but we have to understand that a 12eps drama can't cover all the semantics
Overall a great show, its a breath of fresh air as compared to your everyday rom com and it was definitely a great watch, but I have to say that if you are a huge fan of romance and not the angst then you may struggle till around ep 8-9 after that I'm sure all types of viewers will be satisfied
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This review may contain spoilers
Must watch 2023 drama..
This time tencent has done a great work with production of wonderland of love. WOL can fulfill any type of thirst of a viewer.... The pacing of show is fast and what I like most is how male leads have most screen time that s why there is not boring moments.The acting and chemistry is on point between leads. Although this is a quite tragic story because of many deaths but it has a happy ending and little comedy to lighten up overall story...
In terms of story, acting, cinematography and from every aspect this drama exceeds my expectation.
I hope upcoming project of Xu kai are as great as this is...
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Till the end of this Mess....
This is more or less what you get if you google random storylines and just randomly mix em up, copy a bit here paste a bit there... cut it in to a bunch of pieces that fade in to each other like a musical medley... add some good cast, bad dubbing, pretty pictures but awful CGI and vwalla you have 40 episodes of what the *** did I watch and why am i still watching this?However! I am pretty sure the cast had a lot of fun filming this as they got to portray a whole lot of personalities and showcase their range, I am pretty sure they too had no clue about the story so the risk of leaking spoilers was really kept to a minimum. Among these personalities we got cold as ice, hot as lava, toxic, mean, addicted, obsessed, loving, kind, more obsessed... Seriously probably one of the worse cases of obsessed I have ever seen... Healer, killer, lier, backstabber, frontstabber... We have lovers, bromances, the lies for your own good, the lies for the good of the universe, and probably some lies told for the good of some random cat somewhere... Or just for fun... For those of you who love watching actors spit blood you are truly in for a treat as there are very few scenes that do not include the occasional blood spat... It is hard to fit ppl in to a costume drama but I am sure this was sponsored by the cranberry juice and fake blood association of China.
It is probably easier to list what you won't find in here which is logic, consistency , modern stuff, and quality.
But if there is anything else you desire, it is sure to show up at some point or another.
P.s. it has an amazing flaming umbrella
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1Korea is now progressing in BL dramas
Why is this drama giving me 16 episodes high quality straight drama vibes ? Yes , finally a Korean BL series with excellent cinematography .Except " Semantic Error "( Masterpiece) , all of those dramas from Korea, were " good " ( not best ) for me , so I had not that much high expectations but " Secret Relationship " is really better 😉Disclaimer- If you don't like Love Triangles and messy plotlines then this is not for you.
POSITIVE-
1 . Adaptation of a very popular Manhwa " Secret Relationship " , this is a +1 point for this drama.
2. Excellent cinematography ( Rare in most of the KBL )
3. Handsome actors with great acting skills.
4. Green Flag ML .
5 . Beautiful Soundtracks .
NEGATIVE-
Messy story plotline with full of toxicity,
Overall -
8.5 / 10 , their visuals are eye catching, Manhwa lovers will definitely like this drama.
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I mean, I know they both can act and I love seeing Mario-Davika pair, Kimmy with Mark or James Ma... But after I watch this, I can say that Mario-Kimmy chemistry are amazing..
NongBest who plays Chaba lil sis is so cute and funny.. I love her!
What I like about this drama :
1. It's not just a romance comedy, but we'll get to know about Thai herbs and medication (I learn along with Chaba ;p)
2. The storyline move fast, not like most of dramas, they don't drag the story until we're frustrated (too fast until I don't realize it almost ended).
3. Not Slap and Kiss kinda larkon
4. Great chemistry of the main couple
5. I laugh, I cry, and I smile throughout the drama..
6. Thong Ake character is funny but smart and kind hearted at the same time, Mario plays it very well.
7. Kimmy is out of her the regular brat and spoil character's type, she plays Chaba really well.
8. No crazy ex girlfriend/admirer..
What I don't like...
Well I can say I like most of the storyline.. I don't skip any of the episodes.
Although I think the insertion of Nichkun & Maggie on this drama is not necessary, but it doesn't annoy me (they were there together with Mario and Pat Napapa promoting Dr. J*ll skincare I think).
I just need more sweetness scene on Mario and Kimmy :p
I wish they both can be pair in modern drama (maybe a romantic action comedy will do)
Overall, for you who like romantic comedy you should try to watch this lakorn. Believe me it's worth your time!
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1This review may contain spoilers
Can definitely be watched multiple times, preferably on a big screen
This was so good. China should be very proud of this movie. The cast, direction, editing, music, cinematography was on point. The movie had great pace from the very beginning. I wish I had watched it on the big screen, what great visuals it had.I could totally see how well they used their budget.
I love that Yibo is making great choices for his projects. He could have easily kept on doing the same kind of roles in dramas and earn a good living but he chose to take on challenges and work with good actors and directors to hone his craft. It's no secret that I watched this movie coz of him and he did not let me down.
If Yibo was a Hollywood actor, all our media would be telling us how a young actor is so talented and has done such a variety of work...There's no need to write how good Hu Jun is, he is a veteran. But, I've never seen Yu Shi before, he was good.
Lei Yu is scared of dogs. Those who know will know :P
Zhang making Lei eject but choosing to stay back is not fictional. There have been many pilots who made sure their plane wouldn't crash on a residential area, they sacrificed their life to protect innocent civilians. I knew he would not make it the moment they showed his family but damn it hurt. The first time Lei ejected was so funny but this one was heartbreaking.
Lei's mother told us how risky this career is by just 1 dialog, you can't fix the plane while it's in the clouds.
One can't pretend that there's no propaganda in the movie. In real world, China intrudes into the air spaces of another country while the movie tells us how they get worried when someone else does the same. Movies from other countries do propaganda as well. So let's not pretend a Chinese movie is doing something new. We ignore or pretend when movies of our countries do it so give leeway to another as well.
Everyone knows what China has done in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other smaller countries. I'd like to see someone brave enough to make a movie or drama in China that shows the ugly truth. But we know it's not possible in a country that decides what its adult population should watch.
The movie is about test pilots, what they do, their lifestyle and the massive risks they take. The movie successfully shows it to the viewer. If such a story doesn't interest you then don't go complaining about it. The movie delivers what it promised.
Comedy was at the right time and in the right amount. The CGI was incredible. I didn't care about romance coz I was engrossed in the story of test pilots, thankfully the movie didn't make romance as the core.
There aren't many women test pilots in the real world so I was hoping the movie would have gone a different route. It would have been interesting to watch them make changes to the planes to suit women. Maybe another movie which shows the struggles women test pilots face.
I'll definitely watch the movie again. It was totally worth the wait.
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Surprisingly, what I really cared about the most wasn't the main couple but EVERYONE. All the characters were important in my eyes *whispers* especially Kim Min Ki. That drama is more than "and they rekindled their romance". It's about accepting past mistakes (yours as well as others') confronting your fears and moving forwards (toward your very own happiness). It's about taking care of the people you love and understanding them.
You will laugh, you will shed a few tears (or buckets) and in the end, once the drama is finished, you will happily say goodbye to these 21 hours of well spent time. Because yes, maybe Emergency Couple is not a piece of art per say but it is the kind of drama that makes you feel good about life, that reminds you that whatever mistake you made in the past, it doesn't and shouldn't define you and if that you try hard, you can succeed in anything.
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This review may contain spoilers
A geek and campus beauty story just like any other. It's an enjoyable romantic comedy about a person who cares too much about what people think of her and a guy who just wants the person he loves to understand him. It was funny and sweet and definitely worth a watch with a bunch of friends hanging out because that's the kind of feeling this movie hasHowever, I can't help but feel like this film was directed and/or written by somebody who does not understand " geeks ". I say this in quotation marks because that's just a negative word for the people who are over zealous in their own hobbies; video games, engineering, art, computers, science,history,etc/ Most of these are actual professions. In this movie, these people are portrayed to be creepy socially inept emotionally weak people who are the vermin of society. Not only this but the male lead is the prime example. Why? Clearly in the real world this is not the case at all
The " twist "at the end was not a good idea and I want to kill the person who thought it was. It's like they took a page straight out of M. Night Shamalyan's films. Forcing a twist at the end of a film just for the sake of having one. Except in this case, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Read further below if you want to find out exactly what I mean
SPOILERS
So in the movie there's this legend that if two people fall in a lake while it is dried up, they will become happily ever after. So the two leads fall in and you see how they end up together throughout the 90 minute movie. However, it turns out at the end you discover that it was all a hoax by the male lead. He manufactures the legend, the draining of the lake, the fake happily ever after stories from the legend, as well as a number of things just so he can get together with the campus beauty. After finding out about this, she breaks up with him. And what does he do? Almost kills himself. Fade out to 7 years later and they're married and together. The End.
What. The. Fuck? If it weren't for that stupid ending, I would have thoroughly enjoyed this film but as of now, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. IM going to washing it down with another episodes of Game of Thrones.
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The story is marvellously written, in the movie the topic that was handeled can be seen in the real life food industry and that makes the story utterly sad. It is an unique movie, because it is realistic in a certain way.
The story picks up fast and in the last hour it leaves out no time to proceed fast, I wished they stayed on some scenes longer to give more of an impact but that is just a minor flaw in my opinion.
The cast was amazing and I really appreciated the collab between Korean actors and American ones. It was difficult in the beginning because Jake's acting was too much, but that is the way Bong Joon-Ho produces its movies and I am happy he stayed true to himself.
The music was beautiful at certain scenes, not all of them.
Overall I really liked this movie, certainly ones that impact me (it left me crying) but also made me think about the food industry. In my opinion I don't see this as a propaganda but as a supernatural movie with a deep message, it makes a valid point.
Watch this and you won't be dissapointed, try to look over the over-reacting actions from some actors but see the message behind this movie.
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This review may contain spoilers
Please tell me there are more episodes!!
I just finished watching episode 40. I feel that that there is a lack of information. I saw on a clip online that they had moved into a new house, but that was not an episode 40. If James has a new job, why is he back in Shanghai? and what happens to Li Dai? I need at least three more episodes to round this out. I prefer at least 10. And James is no longer a husband!! Why keep saying marriage is important if they won't get married!? And how and when did Second Brother and MeiMei get back together?? Too, too many holes.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Love with Flaws
Here we have a special series, which is defined primarily by its unique storyline.Unlike the often over-romanticized BLs, both main characters have recognizable character flaws: they are arrogant, selfish and obsessed, but also insecure, intimidated and vulnerable.
This contrast is what makes the series so appealing, because for all their negative attitudes, they remain sympathetic and likable and I always wished them a satisfying love.
Their relationship is neither perfect nor equal and their love hurts others, but that's how it often is and I'm glad that a series shows this without losing sight of the beauty of their relationship.
The acting, cinematography and soundtrack are always on a high level.
All in all a nice surprise at the end of the year and probably one of the best BLs from Japan.
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Healing drama of 2024
Having walked out of a toxic job and figuring life in 2024, I resonated so well with the story, and am so grateful to hear assurance from this show. <3I would recommend this drama for anyone lost in life, figuring out life, a drama suitable for start of the year. It has a slow, dreamy vibe with soft filter effects that makes it like a film, plus the soundtrack is so suitable for the story. Each character has their own story developed nicely till the end. Some mentioned that main character's story was cut short, but I felt the multiple character introduction makes a good break to develop the story as a whole!
It's not heavy in romance yet some parts makes your heart race - the dialogues, the acting - it makes me want to fall in love again. The life lessons learnt there is a 10/10.
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Now I'm actually getting to the analysis. As for the story line, Itazura no Kiss was one of the first anime I ever watched and I've always loved the plot. The makers of the show didn't mess with the plot too much, and whatever they added only made the drama better. It really is a sweet and heartwarming love story. As for the casting, I think it was perfect. Joe Cheng portrayed both the cold blooded and loving sides of Zhi Shu very well. It's rather annoying when people cast extremely attractive actors and actresses to play roles of people who are supposed to be average, so I appreciated that the artists didn't make Ariel Lin too attractive. Of course, she's a very beautiful woman, but the way they did her hair and clothes fit Xiang Qin's character. I can't really think of any role that seemed off, to be honest. Overall, they did a good job with casting, and the actors and actresses portrayed their characters very well.
This was my first Taiwanese drama, and I had trouble with dissecting and analyzing the language. I had to pay attention to the subtitles and the words were kind of like a background buzz. The music came off as really strange at first. However, as I continued to watch, I began to get used to the repetitive words and phrases, and I actually listened to the opening songs. I didn't like them at first since the language was so new to me, but they definitely fit the show. They were also pretty old, considering this show was made in 2005, so that explains a bit of my distaste. And now, after I've watched the entire series, I can say with conviction that the music was perfect for this drama.
And lastly, I'm definitely rewatching this drama. I just finished it, yet I already wanna go back and restart from episode 1. Now that I'm done, I feel all empty and sad ; - ;. I need to quickly find something new to watch before I get all disappointed that it ended. I'm going to wait until I forget about the plot before rewatching it, but it's hard to hold back.
Overall, from everything I wrote above and just how lengthy it all was, you can tell that I absolutely love this show. It was perfect in every single way. Others might not agree with me, but oh well. Out of all the dramas I've watched, this is easily one of my favorites!
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unique premise (same actors, different characters/stories)
Overall: this is not a reincarnation/time travel plot as all the stories happen in the present day. Instead, the actors play different characters in standalone plots (episodes 3 and 4 were 1 story, 5 and 6 were 1 story and then 7 and 8 tie everything together in a way). 8 episodes about 55 minutes each. Aired uncut on GagaOOLala (not Japan or South Korea) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4812/every-you-every-me-2024 & WeTVhttps://wetv.vip/play/296rso568y0ryfg/m4100yjgyjz?ptag=3_5.16.5.13870_copy ; airing cut version on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvw0WLA6w9UQZrmUoifbNDO9S6yUS9ry7&si=JHVZI3-LAPw_9dev Note: watch after the initial end credits as some episodes have a separate plot
Episode 1 - I was a bit confused with the world building but then it made sense. I enjoyed the sweet moments, the friendship (potentially aromantic character as a bonus) and the intimate partner abuse felt realistic. Not a fan of the comedy sound effects and they could have made it a bit faster pacing-wise. Content warnings: intimate partner abuse/violence, manipulation, manhandling, past death
Episode 2 - typical cold CEO/nervous worker plot. That grandma way overstepped boundaries though her heart was in the right place. Enjoyed the sweet moments. Content Warnings: manipulation
Episodes 3 & 4 - I was going to rate this higher; however, I couldn't get into the moping/angst because they explained it much too late. Not a fan of silent simping for years and making a choice for someone without talking to them first. Liked the second couple and the supportive friends/family/coworkers. Content Warning: a major one but I'm keeping this spoiler free
Episodes 5 & 6 - there were peak visuals in this episode lol, I enjoyed the flirting and physical affection. I really disliked the invasion of privacy and the shoehorned plot with the female character. They spent too much time on the past in this episode as well. Content Warning: past death, manipulation
Episodes 7 & 8 - I'm trying to be spoiler free but I had the most issues with these episodes
Watch Suggestions
- end ep 5 at 45min
- watch ep 6 22-35:30
- skip ep 7
- watch ep 8 31 to the end)
What I Liked: I most enjoyed how the actors were able to play such different characters, the styling was great. The commentary on challenges of shipwork towards the end was also unique and interesting.
Room For Improvement: because I didn't see a key aspect of them as an established couple, it was difficult for me to root for them. The non linear storytelling at the end of episode 6 thru 8 made things needlessly confusing. They didn't actually show what didn't work, so I'm not convinced everything has been resolved and it won't happen again. The time jump felt like a cliche way to resolve the conflict.
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