This drama had the makings of a really good watch. The cast was gorgeous, the acting was really good and the chemistry between the two leads was the best I have seen in a while. The leads were adorable, and you really believed their love story.
BUT….even with all that going for it this drama could not be saved. The writer seemed like a teenager going through anx and the producers must have been desperate to even produce such rubbish. Yes I am being vitriolic because I am so disappointed that the potential was not realized.
This drama is ‘cliche heaven’ because every cliche in drama land that was created and died came here. The Queen of 'Noble Idiots' was the leading female character, and though I loved her to bits I could not stand her overly kind, self-sacrificing and forgiving nature, especially given that she really wasn’t a push over, she was just too nice.
The balance between obstacles and triumphs which the lead couple go through was way out of balance in the negative therefore you got tired of seeing them go through problem after problem with no decent solution.
Too farcical and nonsensical.
This drama started dragging early and you knew this when you saw the same mess repeating itself early on probably around episode 10. I kept thinking how many times can you play the same trick on the same people and they still not catch on they are being used and abused and used and abused again!!!!
The chickens started coming home to roost around episode 37, however even that was a disappointment because those chickens came home but the eggs never cracked until the final episode 41!!! Any revelations was only partial and just a tease so it dragged to the final episode!! I could not believe it! So here is my advice…..DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME AND ENERGY ON THIS DRAMA or else you will be knocked out by twin brothers FRUSTRATION AND VEXATION. As you can see I still have not blown off enough steam from my anger and frustration as I am writing this review to help this cause.
How come I kept watching and how did I make it through to the end? Through sheer disbelief that I was watching such stupidness and pride would not allow me to accept that the drama was not going to improve. WHY? Because while the storyline was like a used up hag, with some creativity and a bit of ingenuity they could have pulled it off, after all it had a great cast, so I was hopeful.
Any way ALL IS WELL because its well ENDED! OVER AND DONE! HALLELUJAH!! Not to be repeated this watch BUT I will watch the lead couple again in anything. They were particularly adoring and endearing to me in this drama, so if you like good chemistry, beautiful cast and can sit through the rubbish story and plot then you can enjoy this.
So in summary my ratings are: Story 5, Acting 9, Music 5, Re-watch 0. My overall rating is 6 but I am giving an extra point to the actors so an overall 7.
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Acting/Cast- The leads had great chemistry. Everyone acted in their roles well. I didn\''\''t like Aya in Attention Please but she proved me wrong in this drama. I liked that the male lead was so sweet and nice. The brother was a jerk throughout as the villian but he redeems himself in the end.
Music- Very nice score that went along with the mood of the drama.
Rewatch- Its one to rewatch but not right away.
Overall- This is a touching drama that the actors carry with thier wonderful acting.
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Happy End, I Want More, Feminism is there!
(Happy Ending)Tbh, I was shocked when he died in ep 32, thoughI predicted it, but I still cried and then was again happy as he reappeared in the end.
They gave us a cute ending with that special, but I would have loved to see how they pretended he was dead, even making a fake funeral and grave! Like only he and his medic knew? Really? He even hid it from his closest aid.
My theory is that the medic saw his body and took it and still saw chances of life, hid him away and tried to heal him these past 4 years, with even taking measures of experimenting on himself. As, as we saw, the medic's hair was almost fully gray and his face showed signs of aging which came from the experiments and Hua Yong only had a few strands of his hair turned grey. Like- he deserves more praise!
I also would loved to see the second couple's twin children and it would have been cool to see them grow up with the mainleads son.
I also reallly loved the second couple, like I was kinda more invested in their story.
I have never seen a woman cross-dressing as a man so accurately in a drama. Like if not for the voice, I would have believed her! She is on par with Seol In Ah who will act in that upcoming series as a man!
Also, I was soo surprised to finding out the actor of Tian Yuan's (ml's closest aide) real age. Like you are telling me that boy is 15?!! He is a great actor but I feel bad for simping him (though mind you, I am 17, so it should be okay). I usually fawn for elder actors like Lee Sang Yi but this is new. But when I look at his MDL picture, he looks completely for his age. I think due to the heavy make-up in the drama he looks elder, which was probably also intentionally. I thougt he was around 22-24.
Summary, this was really a hella good drama and this is not only my first historical Chinese drama but this is also the first C-drama I watched till the end!!! (besides C-bl)
Bcz usually I never get to finish a C-drama as it's too long and get's boring over time, but in this drama, literally EVERY fricking episode is a dopamine shot into my soul! I loved every ep and I even wish for a second season!
I also loved how women supportive they were! My absolute favourite line from Hua Yong which literally made me watch this entire series:
"Women are poor, they have always been used, .... So I'd rather make use of men *giant smirk* "
10/10 reccommend
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Soulmate Review - ZyKuu
"The story of two soulmates" - This movie takes you along the timeline from when the two main leads Ko Ha-eun and Ahn Mi-so first met till the very end. The story did get confusing at some points, and you will be questioning things afterwards, but I believe that the premise of the film was delivered clearly. Both Ha-eun and Mi-so were amazing as you could feel the emotion and pain these characters were experiencing through the screen. Ham Jin-woo was a key character in this film and he was superb at his role. Jin-woo's presence does cause a rift in the relationship between Ha-eun and Mi-so which leads to the story to become more interesting. I loved the relationship between Ha-eun and Mi-so as they displayed what true friendship means. The character development in this film is beautiful and I loved the concept of death and life shown through both characters. The OST was ineffective as I did not acknowledge it at all, and the colours in this film were more gloomy and dark which fit the sorrow theme. This movie is a must watch for an adult audience, as I think it will resonate with them on a deeper level.Was this review helpful to you?
A Cute and Funny Rom-Com That You Can Watch Under 2 Hrs!
STORY-8.0Based on the Webtoon of the same name, which I have not watched, Uncle Cool tells the love story between a cheerful high school girl and a cold but caring doctor. Besides these tropes, we have some others: Height Difference, Older Man/Younger Woman, School Bullying, Neighbors. The rather big age gap (seems to be 10 years at most) may be a bit bothersome for some, but as someone who usually doesn't mind these kinds of age gaps, I was perfectly fine with this couple. They are cute, and awkward in a good way! There were also quite a few comedic moments where I was laughing quite fiercely, a nice cherry on the top!
As this drama was only about 80 minutes, there wasn't a very deep and long story, but it managed to pack in the details very nicely. There are two rather touchy topics- School bullying, and child abuse. They played a crucial part in the drama and we watched the female lead become more confident and stronger as she overcame these problems.
There were also some heartwarming places in this drama. I particularly loved Na Na’s ‘enemy-to-friends’ relationship with a girl in school. Shows how much friendship is important to us and can help us get through hard times.
ACTING-8.5
The actors are all at the novice level-they haven’t acted in many dramas, but I loved their characters and they were not awkward or strange as their characters at all. I felt that the main leads had reasonable chemistry; Of course, there wasn’t enough time for more cute interactions that would have left me fawning over them.
There weren’t many actors either, but they all did reasonably well, expressing their emotions very realistically and touchingly.
OVERALL-8.0
If you just want some relaxation with some fluff and a few laughs, I would immediately recommend Uncle Cool. There were no annoying details or characters with numerous heartwarming and cute scenes. Awesome character development as well!
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Shameless ML + Smart FL = My Instant Favorite of the Year
This series was already on my watchlist because it’s exactly the kind of drama I love. Having Meng Ziyi as the female lead made it even more interesting, since she often plays revenge-type roles that suit her so well. Some people might say it’s repetitive, but I personally love her in these kinds of characters. One of my all-time favorite series of hers is Bossom, where she played the female lead, so my expectations for this one were high. After watching it, this has become one of the best series of the year for me.I love dramas where the male lead is highly skilled but hides his true abilities and pretends to be weak. The male lead in this series, Xiao Huayong, is exactly that. He’s an excellent fighter with brilliant schemes—someone great and powerful whom other capable people respect and obey. He controls everything from behind the scenes. He’s a shameless ML who’s clingy and loves the female lead deeply; every action he takes always considers her. The female lead, Shen Xihe, is intelligent, careful, and sharp. Both lead actors, Meng Ziyi and He Yu, performed excellently, and their chemistry is outstanding. The secondary couple, Bu Shulin and Cui Jinbai, felt average to me—just a bit funny. The supporting cast did a good job overall. The people around the leads—Zhen Zhu, Mo Yu, and Tian Yuan—were great and very funny whenever they were with the main couple. Among the princes, besides the Fifth Prince, the others didn’t have much screen time but still did well. The Fifth Prince was especially annoying in a good way. The scenes looked realistic and grand, the costumes were beautiful, the music was good, the palace politics were entertaining, and the story progressed well and stayed interesting every episode. The later episodes might have felt a bit rushed, and the male lead’s return wasn’t explained very clearly. Even in the special episode it wasn’t clarified—I can only guess it had something to do with the male lead’s personal physician because he aged a lot—but none of that affected the main enjoyment of the story.
Overall, this is one of the best series of the year for me. Meng Ziyi and He Yu acted wonderfully, and their chemistry is perfect. Meng Ziyi looks elegant and majestic in this role—the costumes make her look even more powerful. He Yu is handsome and cunning in this character, and he’s probably the most shameless ML ever. The supporting actors also did well. I don’t usually rewatch dramas much—I only rewatch ones I really love after a long time—but this is one I want to rewatch. As I said, if you like a highly skilled male lead who hides his true power and pretends to be weak, a smart and unyielding female lead, and a couple who love each other deeply, then you’ll like Blossoms of Power. It’s definitely worth watching.
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I have a confession to make; I always had a serious love-hate relationship with Sion Sono. It’s not because of his over the top style. Takashi Miike‘s more sadistic but he’s still one of my top favourite directors. However, all of my feelings toward Sion’s filmmaking changed to the positive side after this. He definitely amazed me.
The story was unusually chaotic. Tokyo Tribe is a Hip-Hop musical and I don’t even like Hip-Hop but man did it sound completely right! The plot centre on Tokyo’s different gangs that are continually at war with each other until a trigger sets them all off. 95% of the dialogues were rapped out. Sion made almost all of his characters rap their parts in a charming street symphony.
I would agree with you if you said this film was over the top, entirely sexist, brutally violent and edgy. However, those facts don’t deny that Tokyo Tribe is one of the best finely made films of 2014. The action sequences and characters’ interactions were eye-catching and marvellously made.
Sion’s explosive style was fast-paced –as always– which gave the film extra entertaining value. I didn’t like the CGI and some fallen parts here and there but I was certainly impressed to know that he actually cast real-life street tattooed members for his picture. They were undeniably fit and perfect for their roles.
Other actors, namely the veteran Yakuza star Takeuchi Riki, Sometani Shota, Suzuki Ryohei, Young Dais and Kubozuka Yosuke were strongly fit for their roles. I certainly didn’t think I would come to love their characters like that. The solid portrayal of bizarre and weird personas isn’t an easy job to do and this film’s cast brought it to perfection.
Tokyo Tribe was a throughout pleasurable mess of comedy –even parodies– action and some lessons. It’s not up to everyone’s taste but those who appreciate Japan’s weird filmmaking are in for an exciting treat.
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But there's always a "but". And here are mine.
When watching K-dramas, I have some basic rules (that are, of course, adaptable to the circumstances the series lay on me). Sometimes they are all broken right off the bat, sometimes I'm surprised with a writer's ability to not resort to cliches. It's always an adventure, and I love it.
Why I'm saying this? Cause, as I said, Doctor John started out strong. I was really pleased. I hadn't been that happy about a Korean drama story-line for I don't even know how long - which seemed to make sense, since it is based off a book, and these generally tend to be less conflict-for-ratings-driven and more thought out all the way through.
So there we were. Plot was making sense. Characters were being humanly imperfect, but still, coherent. There was our comic reliefs, which is always appreciated especially when dramas want to talk about serious (and controversial) topics, case in point, euthanasia - and those comedic moments didn't seem out of place. We were seeing our characters grow, bond, solve conflicts... and then the second to last episode happened, and I felt like something was about to go bad.
I ended up watching rules of mine being broken, and, as I said, it's an adventure, an emotional one, at that. Suddenly the series made an U-turn and I was like, ok, some experiences and life choices can do that to people. Then our lovely Si-young patched things up (and HOW GOOD it is to have a female lead character actually DO things, not just be thrown around). And then there was another U-turn and I realized how angry I had gotten.
It was like I was seeing in slow motion the impending downfall of a great plot. It seems like the writer got lazy and resorted to some ridiculousness, AND NOT ONLY THAT, but also forgot about some plot points here and there, so 32 half-hour long episodes weren't enough - and Doctor John didn't have the greatest ratings so we would never be gifted a couple more installments to actually close everything up. I don't know if the script writer is to blame, or if the book makes these same questionable choices; all I know is that some things I hoped wouldn't happen... kinda did. And I can't help but to feel bothered about it.
What I'm trying to say is: I'm writing this review 10 minutes after finishing the series. I'm pissed. This drama was climbing FAST towards the top of my favourites list, and I love Ji Sung, so I was VERY excited for his new drama, and we were doing so well... But Doctor John ended up being just "very good". Not "outstanding", not "amazing", but a very good drama. I still love it to pieces, hell, it is WHOLE LOT better than most K-dramas. I mean, "very good" isn't a bad thing at all (>>>very good<<< ya know) - but I'm thinking of what it could've been.
Now that I'm not gonna be surprised with a punch in my face, I would totally binge-watch it again (after my anger subsides). But if you're like me and some plot lines turn you off considerably, then just be warned it can happen to you, too.
All things considered, though, disappointment can hurt, but it can only totally ruin something if the starting point wasn't that good to begin with. Doctor John sets the bar high, and because of that, it is still a must-watch. Now I'm going to scream at my pillow again, and soon I'll be able to love this drama with all my might again.
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It's like a talented writer wrote the first 24 episodes and then some little kid without any knowledge of writing did the final episodes.It should have been the historical of the year with such a refreshing heroine, and I had been waiting for a Jeremy Tsui led drama since Dugu. But the last ten or so episodes were so bizarre with characters doing weird things you would never expect them to do. The most irritating of the villains, for me it was Qiu Min and Yuan Lang, just get what they wanted without any redemption whatsoever. Introducing unnecessary twists simply for the sake of it at the last thirty minutes just pushed it further into the pit of 7 or below. Was this review helpful to you?
10/10 no notes
I don't know if this is the sort of story that can only truly be appreciated by people at a certain point in their lives, but it hit all the right notes for me week after week. The acting is superb, the unfolding storylines are relatable, and everything feels warm and realistic.Loving in the wake of loss and burnout might look less romantic on the surface, but it is slower and more intentional... and feels grounded even in moments of desperate intensity. The small adjustments that you make to accommodate an important person in your life, and needing to balance that against other commitments or considerations (without resentment) is exactly the kind of mature love being portrayed. A love that is quieter and perhaps less possessive, but no less deep.
Watching this series has felt like a hug that I didn't even know that I needed.
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There is a movie with the same title from 2010, but the story of this drama is taking place some hundread years earlier, so don't be confused.I haven't see the movie, so I won't compare them.
This drama is an amazing mixture of love, historical events and friendship. I was amazed by the actors how they could portray their characters so well especially Tabe Mikako, who did a great job. She is playing the strong and wild-tempered Iemitsuko with such great feelings. She is portraying the opposite of Arikoto really great. But I can't forget to mention Sakai Masato who is playing Arikoto with such a stone face that it sometimes made me shiver. But what was even more amazing was his other side which was seen only by Iemitsuko.
Tanaka Koki as Gyokuei was quite a strange choice, because he is playing an 18 years old, so I was at the beginning quite wavering, but later on he showed me, he can pull this role off.
My favourite character Masakatsu played by Hirayama Hiroyuki is also very otstanding. I think I will watch more of his works, he needs more spotlight!
I recommend this drama to everyone. You will cry, you will smile, you will want to watch it again like me!
I can't resist to give this drama 10 points for everything including Misia's Deepness as ending song!
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Emotionally exhausting and gave me more stress than my final exams
This drama is complete dog water. To be frank, I didn't even fully watch every episode of the series, I would skip huge segments until I got to see He Ping and Qiao Man interact. If you're seeing this, I'm assuming you've watched the trailer before watching the series, and the trailer lives up to the annoying and messy plotline of the story.The acting is quite bad, especially the first few eps that took place in Barcelona, where we had to see a horrendous amount of Mandarin and English being mixed. The dub is horrible (especially the English dubbing during Barcelona), and I don't see why they need to to use such unnatural dub for this drama, the actors voices are completely fine. I like SWL and Jelly Lin as actors, and I love them together, but this drama does not do either of their acting justice. During the few scenes where they need to cry, they both lack a lot of emotion (esp my boy Weilong). This is ironic because this is supposed to be a melodrama, emotions should be exaggerated, and He Ping almost has the same looks/ facial expressions on his face the entirety of the season.
The story line is very cliche. I could've sworn I've seen a similar teleserye (Filipino drama) similar to that of Beautiful Reborn Flower. The "losing your memory" and falling in love again plot, the "jealous mfs who want to prevent the main character's relationships", the "workplace environment interfering with love" its all the same to me. Everything went downhill when they left Barcelona to go back to China. This is supposed to be romance, yet where is Qiao Man and He Ping together? No real first kiss (I am not counting when He Ping "kisses" Qiao Man after eating spicy food, or when he kisses Qiao Man's hand in ep 24), not even pg 13 sex, this is the equivalent to a middle school relationship almost. It also doesn't make sense that all of a sudden Qiao Man regains her memories in the very last episode. Too many plot holes, and none of it ever adds up.
The music is quite nice, I only rlly like the op and thats it. No need for further discussion.
Rewatch value= never. Please do not waste your time. I don't even think this drama has enough promotion, which such a shame because they shot in Barcelona and also SWL and Jelly Lin are very marketable together. I try to look for interviewers of them together on this drama and its almost nonexistent. In short, save yourself from the stress and go watch some of SWL's and Jelly's dramas.
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I've been a fan of Gu Man adaptations but what really pushed me to watch this was Yang Mi. Fresh off Eternal Love I've been looking for something to sate my appetite for both Yang Mi and Mark Chao and this didn't disappoint. HXM was also a bonus (as I did find him quite dreamy in Cruel Romance...which is quite strange for a self proclaimed feminist, he was quite overpowering in CR tbh but I couldn't resist) This review is purely for the film as I've not actually seen the drama
In terms of the story, this is quite fateful to the source (I'm reliably informed) so I have no complaints there. Kept me glued despite the frequent choppy editing (whoever they hired to edit this need to seriously up their skills as despite beautiful cinematography and framework, the way the scene's were cut and transitioned felt jarring) Despite that little gripe this second-chance -at-love story really resonated and made me ache for both the main characters. I really hope we get more Gu Man adaptations as I'm absolutely in love with her stories.
Acting was great...Yang Mi can really deliver, I love that she's beautiful AND can act, no wonder she's so in demand. I'm looking forward to seeing more from her. You can feel her character's emotions and her chemistry with HXM was spot on. HXM surprised me by his performance, man can emote well. Gone was the sometimes wooden acting from CR. I love him even more now.
Music was beautiful, I loved the main song (the one in the hospital and shower scene) anyone please put me out of my misery as I really want to know the name of this song. If I had to say anything negative, it was that the upload I watched had a weird carnival music playing in the background? It was disconcerting...
I would definitely want to watch this again, not for a while but yes worth a watch now and will be again I'm sure.
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This show had so much potential, but the organization was terrible. The general story is amazing! However, the explanation was poorly done and everything was mixed up. That being said, this show still passes as one of my favourites. Please read this all before deciding if you should watch it :)Plot:
Like I mentioned above, the story was amazing, unpredictable, and requires a lot of thinking. I loved the story and everything about it was so well thought out. For that reason, the writer did a great job. However, the directors mixed it up way too much and that made it very confusing and difficult to understand. There were many unnecessary details to the show that I feel would've been better off eliminated. They tried to squeeze so much into a short plot and didn't give the reader the chance to understand a topic before moving on to the next. This sounds really confusing, so I'll give you a real life example. Let's say a really old person is asking you how to call someone on their phone. You write a list for them with the steps 1. turn on the phone, 2. Click on the phone app, ect. After you hand them the notes, the first thing they ask you is, "how do I turn it on?". To you this is common sense, but they don't know since they weren't exposed to it beforehand. This is kinda how this plot was. We were given a sequence of events, but with many of them, they almost assumed that we already knew of figured out the basics of when we really didn't. That being said, the most important parts of the story were understood and explained by the end, so even with the confusing parts, you still are able to understand the plot and story on a more general level and love it.
Characters:
Honestly, in my opinion, this is the part that kept me watching. I fell in love with the characters and their personalities. They chose the perfect actors for each character and the acting was on point. Even the cast for the villains was absolutely amazing and did an outstanding job performing their roles. Each character had something special about them and ughhh I just love and miss them all.
Camera/editing/visuals:
This was also very well done. The camera angles, the colours, costumes, setting, props, aesthetics, and editing were stunning! Visuals in general were just wow. It's difficult to find a drama that has such amazing visuals and this gets a 10/10 for that. This was also a major reason for me to not drop this drama.
Music:
It was absolutely perfect for the plot and I fell in love with the music. Overall, the music was amazing and well chosen for each scene. Loved it!
Rewatch value:
This is probably the highest rewatch value I've ever given. I'm the type that doesn't like rewatching anything since it feels like a waste of time. However, the confusing parts and very cute scenes are the reason why I will be rewatching this drama. I want to focus on the details this time and really think about everything and understand. There were also way too many cute scenes that I want to watch again.
Overall:
This drama is one of those that you either love or hate (or both like me). It kinda reminds me of The Heirs and how some loved it and others hated it. You really have to try this for yourself to know and don't trust all the reviews. It's also a drama that is really really confusing and you have to watch a few episodes to start to understand. The first episode was the most confusing, but it does get better. The ending was also very cute and I couldn't think of a better one for this plot, however, I wish they explained a couple things with a bit more detail. I feel that apart from the confusion, this story was amazing and the characters, music, and visuals balanced it out. I'd totally recommend this drama. You might not like it, but it deserves a chance.
Thanks for reading :)
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