First of all, I must confess that I was a little reserved about this drama after I got "sick" of all the Romance genre. But what made me give it a chance was cover photo and Seol's imagine. At first I thought she was cute and I liked her hair, but it turned out that she actually has a strong personality and a pure heart. I really admire her!
On the other hand,even though I have the second lead syndrome, and Baek In Ho got me all hyped and fangirling, everytime Yoo Jung appeared this got me to my senses. I was thinking:" What is wrong with this guy? What he truly wants from the people around him? Is he really sane or something?" But I found out in the end that I misjudged him somehow. He was always put in the corner by his father and was always trying to hide his genuine feelings even from himself just to look good in front of others and especially his father. Maybe the was right saying:"I'm not the strange one. They are." People always tend to want more when they already have what they want. That is the biggest flaw of a human beeing: greed.
In some way I found myself in Seol,always the forgiving person who tries to be kind to everyone but gets hurt and misunderstood, always trying to help and says "Yes,I will do it." even if I have make sacrifices to do it,somehow grudging of my older sister when my mother praised her too much. But, surprisingly I resemble Yoo Jung too. Not being able to show my feeling to other, hiding them away, locking everything inside me, being an avenger with indirect methods and hurting those who truly care about me,is quite odd.
My advice: Watch this drama! It's not a waste of time.It might have some disappointing issues,but it will give you some lesson about how life truly is. You don't know what's awaiting for you. You might find things about you or others that you didn't know.
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When the characters regress and you are questioning reality.
After watching one episode one would think the female lead will get an amazing character development and slowly will learn how to prioritize her own needs. One could not predict she will infect male lead with her Jesus complex - and yet this is kind of what happens.Not gonna lie, Takumi was adorable. The twist on the contract marriage and the initial presentation of him as a cold male lead was done perfectly and set my expectations for the rest of the show slightly too high. On the other hand, Yae was just frustrating. While at the beginning the situations she put others’ needs ahead of her own made at least some sense, later it was just too much to handle and the script was leaning into some ridiculous territories.
I think the writer just fails to deliver a character development. I know not all characters need one, but her behavior was truly pathological on a whole new level. If anyone needs character development, it’s her. What’s worse, I feel like her “giving up so others can be happy” persona started to influence male lead too, which led to at best questionable last episode.
That said, I did enjoy them as a couple and their scenes were adorable and blast. The actors had amazing chemistry and as a viewer it was clear to me how in love they are. I also really liked all the side characters - which, surprise surprise, actually got more character development than our leading lady…
Overall, a decent rom-com that is lacking in some major areas.
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This review may contain spoilers
This series couldve been amazing, sadly terrible writing ruined it.
I wish I could give this above 3 stars, but I just can't. The only reason its even that high is because of Ashing and Mangkorn. It was so just bad..The plot was super confusing and made almost no sense most of the time. I felt like there were so many loose ends at the end that they never explain. It's really disappointing because the premise of the show was very interesting and honestly with better writing I feel like this could have been amazing even with only 6 episodes for the show. The side couples story line wasn't confusing and I actually loved their story, but we got so little of it 🥺
As much as I love Boun and Prem, I barely cared about their pairing in this story. They didnt flesh anything out and it didnt even feel like they had romantic feelings for each other till the last episode. Then all we got was an accidental kiss and two sniff kisses. It just felt like a weird choice to me especially since the side couple kissed.
I'm the type of person that feels kissing isnt always necessary for the story, but it just really irritates me when BLs do an accidental kiss or a one-sided kiss as the only kiss for the couple.
Honestly, Ashing and Mangkorn are the only thing that got me through this and kept me watching. I'm just really sad they got such little screen time cause their story was super cute!
For me personally, I would never watch this series in its entirety again. As I said before, it was just so bad I wouldnt put myself through this again. I would, and probably will, rewatch Ashing and Mangkorns moments because I loved them.
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Let me start by saying that I started watching this show with a lot of hopes. The reviews and rating was enough to get my hopes up. Although I got few bad reviews saying otherwise I trusted the majority and I kept an open mind about the show. So let me break down for you my reasons for disappointment.
STORY: The story started nicely and considering the time of it's airing I thought the concept might not be as cliched at that time. At the very beginning I found it nice that the MCs and the supporting roles all had their ambitions and the story premises was also a bit different. Truthfully I liked it. The female lead, being a modern and young girl forced to marry a prince and made to learn their traditional ways when dealing with the fact that her husband had no interest in her and being really straight forward about it too, gave her some depth and also made her relationship with Yul plausible. She was cheerful, funny, considerate and also a strong female who knew her situation and faced it boldly. Then came the down fall. When the first obstacle came, I understood, the way they lived through it, the jealousy, the history. The story had a lot of potential and they had some supporting roles that could have played a major role like the Crown Prince's sister or may be the King and even the Queen's role had much to say than it actually did (Comparatively the Queen was much active.) As the story proceeded to 17+ episode I really became frustrated. The princess became whiny and the Yul became more stupid and unpalatable (seriously I like how Min Hyo Rin's character exited the show unlike Yul's.) At one point I found myself not recognizing the characters at all. Even Yul's mother( villain) had no depth. It felt like a new writer came along and wrote whatever he wanted. And the ending was the most confusing so much so that I watched it twice and It felt empty and without timeline. Like it was forced. It left me with no recurring feeling for the show or respect for any of the character. The whole show seems to base on jealousy and greed. I mean I thought She was pretty was cliched but I loved it and I will watch it again just to experience that bond between the characters and to see their individual identity which made them irreplaceable. Even sweet 18 had its good points even if they mostly concentrated on the MCs. I just did not feel anything here. I am still a bit confused to be honest.
MUSIC and CAST: The songs were pretty good and I liked the actors. Nice acting. They did really well despite the script. Maybe that is why this show is so famous. Event the depiction of culture and tradition was not bad.But I still won't watch it again.
I guess how they wasted the opportunity to make it something better is what got to me the most. When you already watched 17 or 18 episode you really wouldn't want to drop a show but those 6-7 episodes ruined everything for me otherwise I would have given it at least a 6 or more. :( :(
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Started pretty brilliant, halfway or so through started falling apart
I LOVE the premise of this. God how I love it! Unfortunately, between a director who has, in the works I've seen, been pretty choppy about putting scenes together and a writer with no drama experience on paper, it has seriously fallen apart in ways that make it only watchable for the action and fx... The dialogue became downright "12 year old fanfiction" level corny and the core emotion, as well as the actors depicting it moment to moment, gets rather lost when, you know, you don't put the scenes together logically.It had massive potential. Japan could seriously take this and do something magnificent, I think. It is YET ANOTHER instance where anything remotely involving sci-fi elements becomes a handicap simply because it's airing in Korea and in turn made by people who grew up with this odd inability to take notes from over 40 years of badass content worldwide. I just want to sigh.
I'm still giving it a 7 because Park Sung Woong and (weird Japanese 90's hair aside) Choi Jin Hyuk and Jo Dong Hyuk all kill their scenes and Park Sun Ho is awfully cute in this... though made a bit of a wimp overall except for one episode he was allowed to be a bit strategic. The worst offense is Bradley: Jang In Seob's character. SO MUCH POTENTIAL and I really like that there's a backdoor to communicate with these people because of their hyperadvanced chips... in the end, though, they really didn't imagine enough for the guy or the genius Susan (Jang Seo Kyung's character) who supposedly gets a slightly sinister smile turning humans into machines, like they took a psycho genius from a mental ward and made her a police agency doctor...
They give SUCH underdeveloped backstories that behold, here is character-as-prop #1... and 2-32 are over there. It's sad. They should've stuck to the characters and honored the talent they hired.
That said, I don't really regret watching if only because hey... they're kinda smoldering hot a lot of the time, not gonna lie. It took me this long to realize that Jo Dong Hyuk (Tae Woong) is who played the super sexy painter in Love Affairs in the Afternoon. I love that the 4 men-Park Sung Woong, Choi Jin Hyuk, Jo Dong Hyuk, and Park Sun Ho (who I'd seen in Best Chicken as the lead but otherwise only in support roles) are all attractive in totally different ways. Bradley (Jang In Seob) is definitely more support material but he looks pretty handsome in this, too... pity there weren't more females, but that's pretty much every OCN story of this kind and really anything revolving around crime and police/detectives/investigators... Guess that's one reason I have so much affection when they DO put females in high positions. At least let us dream of slightly more equal roles. The character of Jung Hye In, Mi Na, is kind of a wimp, too-flexible, yes, but they didn't have her using her different build the way anyone would, well, anyone trying to avoid horrible injuries. Suppose she's not that 'anyone' in this. Her role in Graceful Family-which was much more female-centric-was far more powerful than this where she was literally programmed to be a damsel detecting distress of the one they -really- wanted most of all to be their star case for this.
Good message, carried out a bit... hmm... poorly. I still enjoyed it. The action is generally really fun. It took til 14 and 15 to get my personal "from episode 2 or 3" goal accomplished, but they did it, just slowly so as to frustrate me. The ending was a bit anticlimactic for me, too. That said, though, I'll also say this: they did well w/Park Sung Woong's character, one really marked moment of the finale-well, 2 for many, just one w/him and the head of Argos for me, that showed what perhaps we needed more of-focused energy... but his character was pretty good, mostly (the director-writer-producers-editors just didn't really let things unravel in the right order), but in turn they were lousy about keeping an air of mystery for other characters we shouldn't see through so very plainly... that alone dropped its score but the writing/direction were the main flaws. The acting made up for a pretty decent bit of it, but there are hundreds of shows I'd recommend before this, probably a good 50 action shows I find superior just from SK-add Japan's movies and you will have tons more. Sci-fi is still a weakly executed genre in SK... but they're working on it.
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Light Comedy for a Rainy Day
There is nothing in this drama that hasn’t been done before, but it has its charm with absurd humor, likeable characters, and almost no plot to speak of. This drama’s strength lies in good comedic timing and very expressive main leads, from whom you can’t look away.Characters: From the minute the main leads are introduced, there’s never a dull moment with them. Su Xiaohe is cheerful and quick-witted. She doesn’t fall for the usual romance clichés and her having fun with situations that are usually full of drama is immensely satisfying. Mo Xiuran, unlike her, is not the brightest bulb, but he makes up for it with his unwavering self-confidence and a good heart buried beneath layers of narcissism. The other characters are also all very likeable. They’re not developed much, but they all left an impression on me and I’m going to miss them.
Comedy: Mo Xiuran is a cat prince who suddenly finds himself in the body of a young general. This leads to various ridiculous situations, which sometimes leaves you choking for breath from laughing too hard and at other times wanting to hide under the table from second-hand embarrassment.
Plot: Forget it exists. Just take things as they go and don’t think about anything. At first, the story seems reasonable and the drama avoids or parodies many clichés, but near the end, it drops the ball. The established rules of magic contradict themselves, the most awful romance clichés are brought into place, and some character choices are really questionable. The ending is really adorable and sweet, though, so the drama does leave a good memory in the end.
All in all, I enjoyed Be My Cat a lot. It was drama-free, humorous, and a pleasure to watch. I didn’t expect much due to all actors being newcomers, but it surprised me in a good way. I’m glad to have given it a chance.
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Delicate portrayal of Love and Friendship
What happens when 2 friends start living apart in their own life full of struggles and hardships, with a lot of dreams and ambitions to be fulfilled. Soulmate manages to tell the story of this friendship that changes or develops the characters over the course of their lives. The beautiful chemistry of a great bond is elegantly displayed by Kim Da Mi and Jeon So Nee.In essence, the film focuses on the story of the characters' personal journeys and transition from adolescence to adulthood. The movie captures beautiful stills of Jeju Island and the nostalgic BGM makes it more pleasant to watch.
My Rating : 7/10
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2
1Forever in My Heart
Just like Zhu Yun will forever have Li Xun in her heart and Li Xun will forever have Zhu Yun in his heart, Lighter & Princess will always have a special place in my heart. This is my 4th watch and I don't know why it has taken me so long to write a review. Every time I watch L&P, I am stunned by the sizzling chemistry and the depth of love the leads have for each other. If you have not watched this drama, do not believe the criticisms against the ML and the FL's character. They could not be any further from the truth. Watch for yourself.The ML's character is one that if you come to understand him the way Zhu Yun did, you will love him. He is not the usual sensitive ML but rather rough on the edges due to his rough life experiences. The way Zhu Yun softened Li Xun made their romance even more compelling and believable. Li Xun’s dream was the basis of the company he founded called L&P. His dream was to build a system to provide medical service to the public in order to reduce the cancer death rate. But due to circumstances, Li Xun ends up losing it all. After a break up and time skip, the couple works together to regain all that was lost and it is through this collaboration that we see how the couple's romance develops in their love for each. I watched every minute of Lighter and Princess with no desire to fast forward except through Gao and his wife's marital problems. And as Li Xun's back story is revealed, I loved him even more and it was entirely convincing that Zhu Yun would love him because she understood him. She was the light in his life, the "princess" who is someone innocent yet also someone willing to take risks.
The chemistry between the leads sizzles...and sizzles...and sizzles. The match between Chen Fei Yu and Zhang Jing Yi is amazing. The person who selected this cast deserves an award. They are comfortable with each other. I am a big fan of Zhang Jing Yi since Lighter and Princess. She makes it all believable because she is a natural actress who looks comfortable in intimate roles. The way she hugs and cuddles with her ML made me believe she loved him. You can feel the connection. Chen Fei Yu's gazes as he looked straight into his Jing Yi's eyes conveyed deep emotions of love. There is this yearning that is a mix of love and regret but one that said he loved this woman with all his heart and soul. His eyes deserve a special award for L&P! It is this chemistry that left me with the feeling that I never wanted it to end and now over a year since I watched L&P, I cannot move on. I feel it calling to me all the time because I miss this couple when I am not watching L&P.
Lighter & Princess is a masterpiece. You can watch it on the surface or look deep into significant details. Lighter & Princess. Two words you might wonder how they go together. The lighter Li Xun carried with him was his father's. It was broken at one time but Zhu Yun had it mended. But perhaps he no longer needed it as she became his light drawing out of his painful past and bringing him into her innocent fairy tale existence of a "princess." I loved the way he called her "Princess." And yet he didn't treat her as if she was nothing but a princess. He allowed her to grow and learn on her own by guiding her and giving her hints on how to achieve her goals. And she understood him.
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A Man Who Defies the World of BL Season 2
21 people found this review helpful
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Amazing Continuation, Slight Mood change
One thing I noticed with this season is the mood change.While it still has plenty of jokes and quirky humor, it's definitely toned down to make way for more emotional story lines (Even if those do have humor in them Aswell). The main lead is still amazing and gives the show so much life, along with the amazing opening theme. (Although I found their new fits weird, anyone else?)
I think the only story line I wasn't really into was the girl/boy one (unironically). Mostly because I feel like compared to the other storylines it lacked a lot of cohesion, but otherwise the story was still very funny and well-made.
I'm glad they've confirmed season 3, it's going to be great to watch, and hopefully they don't split them up at the beginning of the season, it feels slightly like a cop out. That was prob my only other issue is that rather than adding story beats across the entire season, they opted to give us a little story in the beginning, and then nothing until last episode.
If I have one hope for next season, is that they keep them in a relationship, but also try and use the protagonist skill to identify classic BL tropes to his advantage in his relationship, I think that's a very cool concept.
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I loved the friendship between the empress and our main character which was the main focus for first half of the drama. They just complete each other, and you can’t help but love Ying luo played dirty to protect herself and the empress. The later half of the drama focused on Ying luo’s revenge and her relationship with the emperor which just as interesting. They are one crazy pairing compared to Ying luo’s first love but i somehow feel like they also completed each other the best. You can see the progress in their relationship. Some time push and pull really goes along the way. I love when he hated her at first but end up falling for her. I know Ying luo’s character is unrealistic at times for some people but in order to survive in the palace, you need to be like her LOL. She have both luck and the brain to protect herself. This drama would not be as interesting if she’s weak and can’t do anything about her situation most of the time.
Overall, it was a nice surprise approaching this drama. Every characters, including the maids and eunuchs were all memorable. Beside it’s insane popularity in China, the hype was real in Vietnam as well. Memes and talks about this drama are every where because of the satisfying plot and diverse characters. 10/10 would recommend even if it’s long, you would still want to watch more if you end up loving it.
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Wonderful drama until it all fell apart in the latest episodes
Story: It was all rainbows and unicorns (as a rom-com SHOULD be) until writer decided to go into MAKJANG territory and destroy all the hard work she put into creating this story (last minutes of ep.16 was just an ordeal to watch) The story has so much heart in the beginning, with endearing characters who despite not being blood-related helped/supported each other in difficult times, they were like the perfect family that everyone dreams of.Chemistry between the leads was on point. They made a beautiful couple and even when Jun was revealed to be a high-schooler, I didn't mind at all (I know many people were bothered by this detail, I wasn't one of them), I stood by them and hoped for a beautiful resolution to their love story. I'm still angry at the writer for giving everyone the happy-ending they deserved except our main couple. Jun faking his own death for 5 years, him coming back into Rara's life and acting as nothing has happened was just appalling. I just can't with this one...who in their right mind thought it was a nice way to wrap up things?
Rara could have move on and been married, you know it's been 5 fuck*ng years and you expect her to welcome him open arms and to forgive him just like that *oh wait, it's exactly what happened* (she thought he was dead for God's sake!!!)
I would be furious as hell and dump him on the spot (even if the guy was the real Lee Jae Wook!)
Before leaving, he should have told her the truth. Period. Rara would have probably been devastated at first but she could have given him the emotional support he needed and they could have faced it together like real couples would do. In concealing the truth, he's showing he didn't trust her, he's treating her like a little girl.
DoDoSolSolLaLaSol's revelation was about the only good thing in the latest episodes. It was beautiful, I admit, it made my heart flutter. Knowing he fell in love at first sight and all the things he did to keep in touch with her was just so precious and romantic (he was indeed her star/guardian angel) but writer had to ruin that lovely concept with the nonsensical and outdated illness plot ughh
The best ending imho: Show started with a wedding that fell through and should have ended with our main leads wedding. Coming in full circle. Writer may have thought it was too cliché?!? Still I'd take this 'cliché' ending over the infuriating one she has given us.
Edit: Writer could have include the wedding in a last epilogue for example. Just a thought.
Finale Rating: 6.5/10 and I'm being generous (8.5 from first episode to 13)
Acting:
Top-notch acting from everyone. I was most wary of Go Ara but she pleasantly surprised me with her bubbly, fun and optimistic character.
They are the reason why I stuck with this drama till the end. They deserved better. Writer failed them big time! And she ruined LJW first leading role *angry* (writer is blacklisted from now on!!)
To think it's from the same team behind 'Shopping King Louie' which is one of my fav dramas ever *I just can't believe it*
Rating: 9.5/10
Music:
OST was nice and I quite liked it.
Rating: 8.5//10
Rewatch Value: No, I won't go through this one a second time. Drama ended when Jun crashed the fake wedding and they went to the beach.
Rating: 3.5/10
Overall: For those wondering why I'm so harsh with the writer and the drama in general...It's because it could have been a great drama, it had so much potential in the beginning and I trust the writer because I watched all her projects (there's only 2) and enjoyed them a lot. I just feel cheated in the end.
Finale Rating:7.5/10 (mainly for the actors fabulous performances)
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Story: Although the story is a cliche for Uee, (her specialty poor and miserable then a happy ending) she always keep improving every time. The plot is well executed and well written.
Characters: All have developed, all characters had closures. except for two characters stood the same.
Plot twist: There are few plot twists along the way. it made the series freshen up when it dragged a bit.
Re-watch value: it is totally re-watchable, its one of the series that you will not bored of.
The team work of the cast is super effective for the near perfection of the series.
The music though, i thought it would be more remarkable OST, i only had one OST by heart, not all of them.
All in All, this is a very likable experience and i definitely recommended
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This review may contain spoilers
PRECURSOR: I was able to finally watch this because there were english subs available on youtube (actual subs, not just straight translations of the Chinese subtitles); However, halfway through (around episode 45) the subtitles ran out, so the second half of the drama I watched just with Chinese subtitles. I understood enough to get the major points of the story down, but definitely missed out on most of the politics talk/etc. (Still feel confident that I understood the majority of what was happening plot wise at least).If you watched Legend of Zhen Huan (which I'm sure most people who watched this saw that one first), you're definitely gonna feel like this is just another version of that. Same lead actress, same director and production crew. Similar story (following the life of a young girl who becomes a powerful Empress Dowager). I will definitely say that while the similarities are clear, the storyline itself felt very different in many aspects. So don't just skip this because it feels super similar to Zhen Huan!
**Definitely going to have a lot of comparisons to Zhen Huan (since that one was the more popular of the two).**
STORY:
-This story really ranges through the ENTIRE life of Mi Yue. It begins before she is even born and shows the precursor to why people treat her a certain way later on in life. It goes through her years as a young princess in Chu and continues on through the power struggle when she becomes Empress Dowager and even through her regency and later life. That was one thing that I probably would have enjoyed seeing with Zhen Huan (but the actual sequel deals with the later half of her life when the Qianlong Emperor is (well) emperor).
-Because it covered the whole 100 or so years of her life (she lived from 338BC - 265BC - damn). There were definitely certain parts that felt a little lagging, but it was still well paced enough that I wouldn't feel the need to skip chunks of the story (As many people - at least I did during a rewatch - will skip the nun story line of Zhen Huan).
-Whether or not it was fictional or actually closer to history, I really wasn't a fan of the person she became after she becomes regent. It wasn't even the power that annoyed me, but how she dealt with the conflicts with Qin and Yi Qu. (Not going to say more because it'd be a spoiler - unless you know Chinese history). It felt like the character was backtracking in personality because she had become so strong in later life.
-I think there was a good balance between showing us her relationships with everyone to the inner harem fighting to actual political fighting. (Zhen Huan was majority inner harem fighting and that can get tiring).
-Overall it did a good job showing us her life (again not sure how historically accurate it was, but it's TV) and felt like a very good portrayal.
ACTING/CASTING:
-Sun Li really is the ultimate empress. I've only seen her in these two dramas, but the characters definitely had their differences and they didn't feel like the same person - so props to her. She's a beauty who isn't afraid to be ugly which really pushes actors to a new level because their expressions and emotions feel real. When she cries, it's not the delicate tears falling from her eyes that many other actors will do, but its full on sobs and snot and greatness.
-Liu Tao - I definitely think it was probably partially her and partially the director that wanted her character to act that way, but honestly I kind of got annoyed at times with her character. She's a fabulous actress with a good track record, so it doesn't diminish her abilities, but there were times when she would be in anguish over her child or something and the way that she would cry out for her husband and just really irritated me. Overall I still think she did a great job showing the life of Mi Shu as well. (As you again see her from childhood until essentially the end of her life).
-Everyone else - no one else specifically stood out to me as beyond excellent, but everyone else did a fair job as well. No one majorly bothered me in any way.
REWATCH VALUE:
-Honestly not sure if I'd rewatch. The length doesn't scare me so much (I made it through all of Fan Bing Bing's 90 some odd episodes of Wu Ze Tian) and I actually enjoy the epic lengths sometimes. But something about the show didn't have that same captivating feeling that Zhen Huan (sorry for the endless comparisons) had. It was definitely a good drama, but there's nothing pulling me back to watch it again and again. The schemes and what not against her were intriguing the first time through, but it wasn't intricate enough to warrant a rewatch (think Nirvana in Fire scheming - that's the stuff you want to watch again and again). The relationships were good but nothing making me yearn to see them again. Overall good, but not good enough to be mind-blowingly great.
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