1This review may contain spoilers
Love is Sweet.... and apparently dull as a door knob.
It may seem odd to find such a low rating among the sea of 9s and 10s. While watching the drama, I wondered the entire time how come everyone is falling in love with this except me? There is nothing that makes this drama distinct from the hundreds of other rom-coms that are coming out. There is no novelty to the plot, no substance, unimaginative and is quite frankly a nicely packaged ordinary thing.Premise
Twenty-eight year old Jiang Jun is trying to join MH, one of the top investment banks. At MH, Jiang Jun meets her childhood playmate, Yuan Shuai.
The drama starts with our FL sitting for a job interview. She is confident and kind, as she helps calm the nerve of a fellow interviewee and has a pleasant exchange with another female candidate. Although Jiang Jun gets to the final round, our ML (Yuan Shuai) who’s one of the managing partners, deems her “a sheep in a business filled with wolves” and lets her go.
Determined to get the job, she attends a function held for the who’s who of finance to bypass Yuan Shuai.
The drama didn’t even give viewers the chance to dip our toe in before it hit us with clichés in the first episode. Evidently in a world where physics is obsolete, our FL trips and falls not only in the arms of our ML but with their lips align to land on each other’s. This phenomena doesn't happen just once but twice as the gravity defying lips of our leads end up entangled again in a latter episodes.
I initially thought this drama would avoid the distasteful cliché of pitting women against each other given the early interactions between Jiang Jun and other female candidates. Alas drama world dictates that no two women, be it in love or career, can occupy the same space and time unless its to be rivals.
The male lead was written with the protagonist halo. Not only is he a genius in financial markets, but he's unbeatable in car racing and he can throw a punch or two. This financial wiz, in an industry filled with “wolves” is not a ruthless businessman but rather one with a heart of gold, who fights for the little guys. Of course a ML like that can only be matched with a FL with equal caliber. Our FL who has no prior experience in investment banking, not only is good at her new job she seems to do every task well. Her fellow new hires with their fancy degrees and experience can only be disappointed and jealous. I wish to take them aside and tell them that its not their fault they are written as supporting characters.
Romance
The ML has been in love with the FL since childhood so he does everything to protect her and make her like him. If you doubted they’d be good for each other, the writers made every effort to rid you of that doubt. To squash the idea that the love rival might have a chance, the writers took it upon themselves to prove to the viewers in a “scientific” way. The 2ML's dating app matches our leads with-100% compatibility. Yes, 100% match! Who is 100% with anyone? Not even twins are this compatible. To add to this preposterous plot, when the male love rival tried the app he had a 0% match. I honestly wish I had dropped the drama at this point and saved myself.
The romance of course also has the usual cliches, like the noble breakup, and 2 love triangles on each side. Mercifully two of the characters unrequited love plot was tackled without any major drawn out blood.
The main third party is another investment banker who is both a work and relationship rival to Yuan Shuai. This is by far the most inconsequential, irrelevant character in this drama. His entire existence is bewildering. The work issues and challenges were laughable and as for love he never even had a chance. And yet this character takes up too much screen time where he was neither a villain nor a hero until the last episode when the writers decided to use him as a last pebble our leads need to stumble over. What a pathetic existence. I really felt bad for both the actor and character.
Second Couple
The 2FL is our leads best friend. My initial take on the character was, strong, slightly wacky but confident and sensible. That assumption quickly evaporated. The 2ML played by Riley Wang is a college student who is working on a dating app. The algorithm he is working on for this app is based on his belief that data has a better chance of finding you a life partner than randomly meeting people and letting emotions dictate. This is the guy our 2FL decides to hang her love life on.
It is well known that a drama can enhance its quality with a good side story. A strong side couple can not only make boring parts of the drama bearable but can even salvage one. However, in this drama we have one of the dullest, uninteresting frankly quite annoying side couples. Our 2FL walked off her job to be a writer. However, this woman saw a handsome young man at a 7/11 and after learning he frequents that store for its Wi-Fi decides to answer the “help wanted” sign. She goes on to chase the guy in the most cringy, clingy way possible. I got confused if I was watching a middle schooler or a grown woman of 28.
The absurdity in this second couples plot continues when our 2FL tries the dating app and gets a 1% compatibility with 2ML. But this is drama so they have to end up together somehow right? So what does that say about the app AND the writers when this line of plot which matches one couple with 100% compatibility and our 2nd couple with a 1% chance and they all end up together? I don’t expect true and proven science in my dramas but I’d still like them to be sensible. To add to their nonsensical plot, these two people have no chemistry. No spark, no subtle vibe nothing. Every scene they were in was just dull. And they stayed that way to the bitter end. The fast forward button was invented for this couple.
So you can imagine with out an interesting side story to alleviate the dull parts of the main story, there was nothing to stop someone from sinking into boredom.
Good traits
Leo Luo’s character is thankfully not your usual cold, detached, arrogant type. He is actually goofy at times, friendly, funny. I especially love his scenes where he had to shout in surprise or shock, for some reason I find those scenes cute and adorable.
Bai Lu’s acting is wonderful as well as most of the supporting casts. There is a bit of over acting with some characters that just made them look weird, but not too much to turn you off.
The romance progressed quite quickly. Although I don't see the chemistry everyone seems to be fawning over, they at least work well. The romance was mature, in a way that it is based in reality of how actual humans their age date. There wasn't a lot of running around in circle or pretending that intimacy doesn't exist in dating world which a lot of c-dramas suffer from. They fought silly fights, and had ordinary boring nights just like any normal loving couple. Watching their domestic bliss was the only saving grace of this entire drama.
The production quality for this was definitely not cheap. From the outfits to the set everything was top notch. Which is why I was initially shocked by some of Bai Lu’s outfits. Its like the writers were confused which trope to follow. The FL showed up to her interviews well dressed in suit pants and heels. On the job, she immediately switched to baggy jeans, some weird shoes and oversized blazers until the manager scolded her like a child to dress more professionally. I don’t understand why they took this directions unless its to make the other woman look and sound mean and the FL sympathetic. It didn’t work on my part. FL was not some broke, penniless, farmers daughter who came to the big city to pursue her dreams. It just ended up making her look unprofessional. But thankfully this lapse in judgment didn’t last long and we see Bai Lu dressed fashionably for the rest of the drama. The makeup for most of the cast was tastefully done. The shooting locations seemed to be in a more affluent areas.
Conclusion
As I always say, two beautiful people does not make a rom-com. Content matters. The drama is just plain predictable and boring, littered with illogical and cliched plots with no substance to make up for its weakness. Personally even my love for Luo Yunxi couldn’t salvage this for me.
The drama would have benefited from shorter episodes. Frankly, 24 episodes would have been ideal but it could have ended on ep 32. But to stretch it from 32-36 episodes unnecessary and tasteless plots were included. For c-drama it seems to be fate that a drama can’t cross a finish line if it doesn’t shoot one of its foot and wobble through.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's not easy to love this, but its harder to not love this.
Its always the way the characters look at each other, the look of love in eyes that makes one fall in love with the characters. It's same here too, its just that she falls in love with a bad bad guy and you kinda end up falling in love with them. I was stunned, moved and touched by the way their relationship molded over time. The script doesn't offer you with much shocking plot twists but does give slow burn twists that you would have expected for a long time but it still make you feel shocked when you see it. The aspect of finding someone you feel like you belong with though you shouldn't - that drives the movie. The gore killings, yah can weird you out. The slow burn sexual connection and emotions are put out in an excellent way by the actors.The script and the acting makes it feel so raw, the essence of the movie.
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An unusual and controversial female lead
I think the highlight of the drama is Zheng Shuyi’s contradictory character- she is someone who is smart and accomplished at work but is very bad at personal relationships. Her job is being a reporter and she crafts these excellent interviews and articles but when it comes to articulating what is important in her relationship or how to cherish it she is absolutely horrible. She has a low EQ AND THE person dating is reserved and non communicative but has a very high EQ and is very caring.It’s amazing how she has this inner narrative through out the show but then does exactly the opposite in reality . This creates a weird dynamic between the lead character and makes the show a fascinating watch. I really loved how well Bai Lu played this character- it was very interesting and frustrating to watch . Dylan Wang played his role very well and their chemistry was beautiful - very intuitive I will definitely rewatch this one again.
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Enjoyed it!
I'm not into Republican Era drama but Chen Xing Xu caught attention. He looked so good in military uniform as did all the supporting male characters did as well. The story is well-paced. Male and female lead is both smart and strategic. They were made for each other. I enjoyed watching male lead scheme to get his way, in a good way of course. He comes off as a jerk but that's just a cover. Female lead is a smart business woman and she knows what she wants, whether in business or love. She doesn't allow male lead to string her along and she stands up for herself. All the supporting cast did well in their roles. There are ones you love and ones you hated so much. I think the only character I found truly annoying is male lead's sister. The music is okay but for this drama, I wouldn't want the music to be the redeeming point. Overall, I'm glad I stumbled on this and gave it a shot!Was this review helpful to you?
A game of chess that is masterfully crafted
Admittingly, grasping this drama could be a tad bit difficult to achieve. It is like hanging on a fast train. Multiple characters will be thrown and their role on the show will perplex the viewers at first. Should they be trusted or not? Who are the villains? Who is the third person? The rebellion that happened in the past – which obviously is the driving force for the motivation of most characters -- will not be explained in detail and therefore adds more confusion to the viewers. BUT FEAR NOT, because once you get your footing of everyone and everything, you are in for a good ride. Now you are welcomed to a rather fun (or distressing) game of chess.This drama is full of characters that have so much depth. From the main to supporting leads, you will gain a better understanding of the reason for their actions. Redundant or useless characters are nonexistent. Everyone will be used as a pawn and will contribute to the game. Every move will put your brain on a gutter, trying to figure out what their next step would be. This brings us to what I love most about this show – unpredictability. The plan of the other would create a ripple effect and would, at most times, ruin the initial plan of the other. One decision or action could elevate to a bigger event which makes it even more interesting.
Even though the romance is not the focus, the tandem of the main leads is commendable. No skinship is even necessary, their joint venture to team up and knock down the eunuch faction is more than enough. Their utmost trust between each other throughout the drama did not falter. The loyalty that Ruo Yu have towards Qi Yan is admirable. No annoying misunderstandings are present as even though the male lead has continuously pushed the female lead away multiple times, she stood by her purpose – and that is to protect the emperor no matter what it takes. I love how both leads are smart and attempts not to bring their emotions to spoil their plans. The drama did a good job with displaying how much the emperor cares about his love, and yet he does not treat her as someone who is always in constant need of his protection. He trusts her by letting her go and have full confidence that she will get the job done. The female lead may be naïve at times, but she is strong and is someone that the emperor could greatly confide into.
The acting is brilliant and the heartbreaking scenes are beautifully captured. In fact, this is the first drama of Yu Xi that I have been truly impressed by her performance. Cheng Yi’s acting is already a given, and he indeed shined the brightest here. But flowers should also be given to other supporting casts (Yu Xi, Xuan Lu, etc.) whose crying scenes have broke my heart many many times.
Overall, this is one of the best palace dramas I’ve watched. It is fast paced with all the intriguing movements from every character. It did not drag at all as it kept my interest from beginning until the end. An emotional roller coaster ride that is worth every second. You will cry, smile, empathize, and lastly, gain a deeper understanding of everyone as the story progresses.
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A Unique Drama That Used Deceptive Storytelling to Tell Its Story with Solid, Layered & Tight Script
If you want to watch drama that have solid and quality script, brilliant & smart leads, couple that actually communicate & trust each other unconditionally, compelling supporting characters and interesting villains, then Burning Flames delivered in all departments. No stupid misunderstandings, characters that behave out of character or turned 180 degrees or frustrating plots that test your patience --none of this is in this drama. All you have to do is overlook the horrible CGI in the first 2 episodes and then you realized all that are only superficial and secondary to what gem that the drama truly possessed which is the story -- a truly engaging story with fantastic and layered writing with lot of social commentaries and great messages.And it worth to note that the Director chose this campy and over the top vibe purposely as part of its storytelling. The performative acting, the 80's fashion, the vibrant & over the top colors, the splitting of screen for the fighting scenes -- yes, it's all intentional. It served as a secondary character to the drama -- I'm cringing the choice while admiring it at the same time.
The uniqueness of the plot makes the whole story very engaging and compelling as not many dramas actually covered this topic yet. The drama is structured with specific objective in each arc and I love how every arc has its own meaning and goals that they want to achieve and despite supporting characters come and go, they are written with depth with their own back stories -- even the villains. Everyone in the story served a purpose, no matter how small they are -- that would include the adorable ZhaZha as well. You didnt notice this at first until the same characters come back into the story again with purpose to contribute to the main story. Despite the fast paced nature of the plots, I love how they actually took time for characters' development and exploring the various parts of its central theme. And despite the main theme is Immortal VS Human, they also dwelled into different conflicts such as the selfishness of human's nature, the internal conflicts between the immortals and also hypocrisy of the demon clan in upholding justice -- it all being covered to make it such a compelling story.
And, this drama has done many foreshadowing for future events as hints to a lot of things. And all these hints are so glaringly obvious as signs to us the audiences about the characters such as how smart is Wu Geng or how sensible is Bai Cai. The way the drama plays around with the hints while showing us different things are all kind of brilliant. This deceptive kind of storytelling is very unique of how the drama is showing us a narrative while also dropping hints all over for us not to trust that narrative that being presented. The script has been so amazing that soma parts of it actually exceeded my expectation especially during Xinque Kui's scheme arcs -- it was angsty and was kind of a torture but the deceptive storytelling the Director and Writer chose to opt certainly made the twist highly satisfying. Everything was shot exactly to deceive the enemies (as well as the audiences) while also giving the audiences clues all over the story on why we should not trust of what we see on screen. I love when I encountered this kind of unique storytelling once in a while since it makes your watching experiences even more colorful and interesting.
Ren Jialun is doing his usual magic, being charismatic and all but he isn’t aloof in this role so you can see him be very expressive as Wu Geng and he doesn’t have to resort to micro expressions much while playing the character. One thing I like about Wu Geng is how self aware he is. He sure start as being impulsive but you can see how he matures and fit into the leadership role slowly -- winning everyone's heart whether it's human, monster, magical creatures, basically everyone that he encountered during his journey. What I like the most about him is that he always put his people as #1, it wasn’t actually revenge on his mind but rather wanting to release all people from suffering under the Immortal’s reign. I like how the writer always highlighted that -- whether in his monologue inside his head or his actions. It also being portrayed with little details -- like how he will see them and acknowledge their well wishes to how he doesn’t like to be praise when they start worshipping him. He really sees them as people he needs to protect -- a true leader at heart. While Xing Fei is being her usual self and being a sunshine and lovely character she is known of in her other dramas. The most amazing thing about Bai Cai is that despite she is a human and ordinary with no powers, she makes herself useful in every situation. Lot of people like to gloss through her contributions but she is the one who helped Wu Geng the most in his journey -- from protecting him, stopping his impulsive behaviors or just simply being there as a total support to him. Xu Xudan as A'Lan is probably one of the coolest 2nd female lead out there -- the way she stands on her ground, unwavering support and loyalty towards Wu Geng to her protection and teachings -- now I understand why Xudan took this role since the writing for her character is truly fantastic. Then comes Zheng Ting as Nitian Erxing. I truly feel the Director has a field day recording his scenes -- the Director always capture him from above or below to highlight his beautiful eyes, long eye lashes and perfectly shaped eyebrow. I'm laughing with how his scenes totally distract me from the plot, the character is magnetic and full of passion. His female commander said that Wu Geng's arrival at the Demon Clan has makes Erxing's eyes sparkle with hope and you can literally see how its glistering brightly & clearly there and then. And I love to see all the popular cameos especially Han Dong (please be a cameo in all dramas lol), Peter Ho (which is charismatic as hell), Jeremy Tsui, Ming Dao, Joe Chen and many Thousand Years For You support actors come back to this drama to play a part like General An, Bai Prince & Leader of Sea Spirit Clan.
And the lead couple's relationship is certainly one of the strongest points in the drama. This is why I love romance in non-romance dramas. It’s usually one of the strengths of the drama as it served as 'soothing effects' for the characters -- the home they go to when the world is driving them crazy. Just like Wu Geng & Bai Cai's relationship here. I love how they always discuss, trust and reassure each other along the way like a true married couple. That is why when Bai Cai revealed her true identity to Wu Geng, she did it with a smile on her face since she knew Wu Geng will accept her regardless of her race -- there is not even a single double when she told him that despite she also struggle with her identity in the beginning. Their trust and loyalty towards each other is unwavering that no matter how the villains try to put discord into their relationship, it will fail miserably.
And I just love how the script keeps coming back to the main theme of the story which is 'Fate is in your hand' -- so you yourself decide on how you are going to fight against it. Wu Geng's conversation with Uncle Ziyu is all kind of awesome on how they touched the topic about fate and how his father will fight for it even when he knew the outcome and the effect on him and his family and the condemnation that he is going to face -- which being brought up multiple times in the drama. But change is needed, you can't just stay at your place and wait for everything to change on its own.
I also love the fact the drama went back on the topic how Xin King's decision to rebel against the Immortal robbed the chance of ordinary people of choice -- choice to join the fight or choice to just live their lives peacefully. Just because the main character decided on something, doesn’t mean they get spared from being criticized from with it. That is why with Wu Geng now, all the people who joined him are with choice -- a choice that they made on their own. That is why there is people like Chen Jing or Xiao Sheng -- despite supporting Wu Geng, yet, still making a choice of not to join his fight. I love how the drama paint all these people as different, and have their own thinking -- entities that just don’t exist for the main leads or just exist as plot device -- they are their own people, making their own decisions on how to live their lives.
Regarding the ending, I love how they actually took time for the ending -- the battle with Hei Long, the aftermath, and all Wu Geng visits, and later the end. It wasn’t rushed at all and it is beautifully written carefully with an awesome message on how Wu Geng's legacy is not him inheriting the throne but rather how he lives in people's hearts. And tbh, I didn’t expect to cry, like it’s a battle dramas with fighting scenes from beginning to end but the script is amazing since they let everyone have their own emotional moments -- starting with the Grandad, not gonna name anyone here as it will be spoiler but even the evil Xinyue Kui? Like they have to show the Dad and the sister from her memories and all her regrets, and there I was shedding a tear for her as well.
I love even how in the end, the drama showed it wasn’t Wu Geng ALONE who defeat Hei Long but rather a collective efforts and helps from everyone. Wu Geng used the analogy of how even 'ants can defeat a Giant' as foreshadowing before the battle and that's how they designed the ending as well. So many twists and turns in merely 3 episodes -- and they actually property spent 3 episodes for the ending alone. At first, I am ready to give the drama a 9 but the emotional mess it made me feel for the last 3 episodes deserved a 9.5. Whoever wrote the script deserved a brownie point. This is how you write a good drama and a good ending.
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This movie actually doesn't have a story, they tried it by throwing in some political stuff, which was quite incoherent, it was all about the erotic scenes to be honest. It just doesn't flow and it is lacking almost everything, from character development and loads of movie mistakes.
The actors tried, I am amazed that they didn't turn this offer down because they should. How could they read the script and thought 'lets do this'. No, they should have declined it.
They tried it, and their butts and bodies looks amazing but that should not be the main theme about this movie.
The music was fine, but I would not rewatch this movie, it was a waste of my time.
Watch this if you want to see (hot) naked men and bloody scenes.
Skip this if you are looking for a movie with a coherent story, full character development and great acting.
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It doesn't have the best script in the world, and sometimes the relationships were an absolute jumble of confused push and pull, but the actors managed to always bring some light and smiles.
Every episode made me want another, simply for the beautiful scenery and the delightful acting. Each actor was so talented and I cannot wait to see what they do next. To put it simply, Warm and Cozy was a fun simple romantic delight.
P.S. It's a nice break from super heavy melodramas
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This review may contain spoilers
L&P DESERVES AN AWARD! MUST WATCH CDRAMA OF 2022!!!
I am not exaggerating, this drama is phenomenal, I highly recommend it if this is your first time watching cdramas!The storyline begins in the present time which is actually a good attention grabber. It will make you wonder what happened, why and how did it come to this point. The drama will then take us back to the past where it all began, freshmen year of college. The concept of this drama is computer programming, and you really see them mostly focused on typing codes, and make programs, etc. Albeit, I'm not sure if the coding itself is real but I have not seen this kind of drama elsewhere which is quite unique.
What really makes this drama come to life and why its so popular is the acting, the chemistry, character development and the storyline.
Zhu Yun (Zhang Jing Yi) : Zhu Yun as a character is a book smart, follow the leader kind of gal in the beginning but eventually she will find her voice. She can get a little bossy, and sometimes I think she lets her emotions make the decision instead of thinking from a practical point of view. She's very passionate when she wants to prove she can do something, as well as very caring and understanding of her friends espeically towards Li Xun. Zhang Jing Yi played her part very well, nothing to outstanding and her acting is quite natural - like she truly is the character itself who's in love and willing to do anything for the love of her life. I have only seen one drama of hers so its difficult to judge if she improved or not - seems like the same to me.
Li Xun (Chen Fei Yu) : Li Xun is your typical rude, selfish, arrogant male lead who believes everyone sucks at computer programming compare to him. However, he's very misunderstood, he's more of a practical guy - he has more experience in the field thus he knows what is sellable or not. Many viewers, espeically if they don't understand mandarin, would think that he's always rude but most of his replies esp to Zhu Yun are quite funny or sarcastic - its unfortunate its not translated well into english. :( Li Xun may be your nerdy, introverted quiet kind of guy but towards Zhu Yun - he cares in a subtle way, and tend to keep a lot of things to himself which is a double edge sword. His character develops pretty nicely, he's not always like he was in the first few episodes. He learned to be apologetic and show remorse for what he has done. However, he still keep things to himself, and sometimes he believes its better to work alone than to bring people in to help him. Yeah, he definitely needs therapy to deal with the losses and feelings. Chen Fei Yu did an amazing job as Li Xun because his eyes does a lot of the acting when he doesn't talk, and it really sucks you in. I also only seen one other drama of his, but despite of that, there's a huge improvement in his acting!
There is a couple time skips and unfortunately we do not see much of the beginning relationship between the leads, but regardless, their relationship was very cute, fluffy, and natural - its like they're a real couple honestly. Amazing acting from both of them!
There's many other great actors in this drama but I have to highlight is Gao Jian Hong played by Zhao Zhi Wei. Without spoiling too much, his character is very competitive, and insecure in his computer programming skills. I did not like his character from the get-go, he seemed fake - a two-faced character. Other than that, you would have to watch and see why his acting was amazing.
Ren Di played by Jenny Zheng: From the beginning of the drama, the way Jenny acted as Ren Di seem so incredibly natural as if she played herself. I just wanted to point that out, the outfits, and her personality fits the actress so well - its very natural and I hope she gets a main role. She honestly compliments well with Chen Fei Yu - the tall couple. hahaa Okay but in reailty, the characters have no romantic interest to one another.
In terms of love triangle, there is one, however it will not make you pull your hairs out so its not a big deal.
Music is amazing, the settings are amazing esp when the main leads got together - the background, the cinematography was beautiful.
Definitely highly recommend this drama if you enjoy watching dramas in a college setting, slow burn but realistic and natural romance, computer programming, games, the dreaded angst, friendship, and betrayals.
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This review may contain spoilers
"Jirisan" radiates within the slowed down, yet powerful dynamic of the mountain world
"Jirisan" pays tribute to South Korea's first and largest national park and its rangers, who ensure security and order here. The KDrama weaves an exciting story that also takes into account the special aura of the mountains, adding a good portion of mysticism. Actually Jiri Mountain is quite legendary and downright sacred for Korea. It's worth watching the KDrama for that alone.Other quality guarantees are given by the handpicked cast and high-end production.
A joy for some, a curse for others: "Jirisan" radiates within the slowed down, yet powerful dynamic of the mountain world. The story itself is a bit reminiscent of a mountain hiking tour: it's not a stroll. You need the right footwear. Sometimes you might think you've lost your way. The story is told in several timelines. Yet it chooses its own rhythm with a sure step, that leads to the final destination. On the way it is continuously enriched with worthwhile vistas along the entire route... Fast pace and airy love story are not part of the baggage. But exciting entanglement over time, unconditional trust as a topic in the team of rangers, as well as love in its essential form and various expressions (... e.g. for the mountain).
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Poor writing partially saved by a great cast
This was a real disappointment - the story had potential and some good ideas, but the execution was sloppy and the plot ran out of steam after a few episodes.The acting is great with First as the standout, and Neo and Louis quite engaging whenever they had screentime. The music is also quite good, with well-chosen and moody background score that supported the story.
The problem was the writing. We started out with good ingredients - a story about tradition and authority vs modernity and individuality. At first it looked like we'd get an intelligent examination, with a quite excellent in-class argument in which the rebellious Ayan manipulates an authoritarian teacher into supporting his perspective while he takes hers - but it's like all the intelligence in the script went into that one exchange because it was never repeated.
Instead, the authors come down heavily on the side of freedom, equating rules with depression and suicide - which might have worked if he rules weren't so mild and commonplace - wear a school uniform like 90% of humanity as mandated by ministries of education, and don't use phones during class. Really? That's it? And the writing contradicts itself, as almost everything bad that happens is due to preoccupation with social media, so maybe phones were the problem after all.
The Curse of Suppalo was another interesting idea, which quickly petered out and became incidents so benign that people's OTT reactions to them were ridiculous.
There is a plot twist in Ep 11 that you won't see coming, largely because it isn't set up in the slightest and ends up requiring someone to behave totally out of character, and everyone else to behave out of character in their reaction to it - and since there are no consequences resulting at all, it's meaningless - just a random twist for no apparent reason.
The relationship between Akk and Ayan starts off interesting, but quickly degenerates into a string of tropes including the most stupid accidental kiss I've ever seen, by far - it's so bad I dropped the series and only picked it up again when everyone assured me it got better. It didn't. There is no real organic development between them - they're pushed together by stupid cliches and tropes, and it's never clear why they like each other, so you have to conclude it's a physical thing. I will say that I liked that they didn't do the seme-uke thing - in fact people in the forum argued over which was which.
This is basically a six-episode story stretched out to twelve. It really has nothing to say, and despite its promising introduction, was basically just a typical formulaic high school BL, albeit set in an all boys school, so we're at least spared the stock evil gf character, and it is refreshing that the characters are actually gay and identify as such.
The last episode is cloying and preachy. Nobody watching BL has a problem with homosexuality, so preaching to the choir is pretentious and irritating - plus the absolute ease with which coming out is accomplished and greeted sends no message - in fact it's a bit offensive in a story that has pretentions of social commentary and in its portrayal of depression and mental illness to just handwave away the most difficult and painful thing LGBTQ+ teens have to deal with.
I'm not sure I can recommend this. If you're a big fan of the cast, then I'd watch it - but otherwise it's a frustrating, shallow, formulaic melodrama. I doubt I'll have any recollection of it in three months.
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Mild angst, major miscommunication.
Can I even call it miscommunication? Was it not just a reverse delulu - Shirasaki Yuki truly lived in his unfounded convictions and denied any possibility of mutual feelings between him and Hayama Asami. The only thing left for me to do was keep watching and keep sighing - little guy was chickenblocking himself.Truth to be told, I actually loved the plot itself. I'd just tweak how Shirasaki Yuki was written to make him a bit less frustrating. His character effectively lowered my rating with each action he made. Dude kept acting as if he was rejected without being rejected. At some point his explanation of Hayama’s actions became so illogical all I could do was laugh. What the drama failed at was convincing me there was a valid reason for him not even thinking there is a chance Hayama might like him.
I do appreciate how it led to a nice pinning and angst from Hayama Asami tho, which was in fact the highlight of the show for me. With just two episodes focusing on his point of view, I somehow believe I understand his character and reasoning far better than Shirasaki’s. His hesitation made sense. How cautious and at times passive his behavior towards Shirasaki was - it was well explained and it was the most fun part of the drama to watch. I’m a connoisseur of mild angst and I was quite pleased with what I’ve got from 25 Ji, Akasaka de.
How about the chemistry ( which is undeniably important in romance driven shows)? Depends on which scene we are talking about. The first kiss the part shared was atrocious. It was not even a dead fish kiss. It was not a cute peck, they literally just put the lips together, barely touching, and stood there. The context of this scene made it even more ridiculous and I almost dropped the show when it happened. Luckily it only gets better from that point, so don’t give up hope (not that it could get any worse).
For the acting - it was good, just not my preferred style. I did not quite connect with Shirasaki Yuki’s character and Niihara Taisuke’s acting did not help either. I would not even say Komagine Kiita did an outstanding job either, but I just prefer the subtle ways emotions are shown, and that’s how the character was written and the performance directed.
Production wise I did like the drama a lot. Not only they wanted to present a cohesive story, but they wanted to do it in a visually pleasing way, that’s always a plus in my book.
Overall, it’s a nice show, but it’s not something I’m going to talk about and recommend after some time. I enjoyed it as it aired, and will have no issues quickly moving on to other new titles.
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It flowed with an interesting "historical" element.....but don't be put off .. it's not boring at all. It got an 8.6 score here..but I'd tell you it's a 10. I'm not sure I could re-watch a long drama ~ but if I did this would be top on the list...Lu Yi the male lead gets my vote for the next James Bond 007... he sizzled. =D
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Very good, could have been perfect if shorter.
The greatness of this drama is in its main characters. They are mature, thinking people with none of the usual simpering of the ganre. They are all complex and rounded and aren't so easily put into the usual boxes of good or bad.The music and costumes were good, but as usual the white skin filtering was too much. Wish the Chinese industry would stop with this nonsense, since they already have such good looking actors without the filters.
The downside of the drama was the number of episodes. Forty episodes were too much for the story and the last five episodes I was mostly skipping and skimming. It was a good drama but it could have been excellent if it was shorter.
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