Reviews

An absolute banger of a drama.

An amazingly well written comedy that transcends the tired time-leap trope. The combination of an unreal cast and well-written, realistic dialogue brings the characters to life, so much that you can't help but miss them by the end of the show.

The screenwriting is brilliant, the story is well paced with rising stakes, great plot twists, foreshadowing, callbacks and solid character development. The show alternates between observational and situational comedy while the underlying story has darker undertones.

The cast is absolutely awesome with a great alchemy overall. Still, Andou Sakura's performance deserves a special mention with her full-body acting style, constantly matching her posture and motion to the emotional state of her character. This alone adds to the rewatchability of the show.

The soundtrack as well as numerous references to older television drama and anime not only help ground the timeline but are sometimes part of the plot.

Overall, this show is a must-watch, easily the best drama I've seen.

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I’ll start by saying that if you enjoy the original you will enjoy this one. I have now officially seen them both. I was a little hesitant to watch this one as I feel somewhat strange about the first one but I decided to give it a shot hoping that it would take a different approach however it did not. The positives; the cast did an amazing job portraying the characters who they were intended to be. Their emotions were evolved very well and it was very convincing. The supporting cast were good as well. I have nothing negative to say about the acting, the wardrobe or the quality of film however the plot itself was a bit disturbing. I felt the same about the first one. To summarize they have essentially turned a victim into a spouse.

I have watched a similar series but for some reason I didn’t get the same vibes like I got with this one. This one was a little eerie. Please don’t read below if you don’t want this boiler. What we have is our female lead who went away for a while and came back to discover that her boyfriend had not only cheated on her but had also gotten married. He was very apologetic and continue to make attempts to get her back. Once the wife’s brother finds out about it he then lies to the girls parents that he defiled her and that he loved her and wanted to marry her just so he could make sure she was unavailable so his sisters husband wouldn’t go back to work. This twisted part is that the parents dumped her (her being unaware) off in the middle of nowhere with this guy and left her there. He essentially harassed her and bothered her to the point that he started to like her. As a viewers I assume that we were supposed to empathize with him and hope that they would end up well. As a female I was again, Disgusted by the fact that the writers thought it was sweet for her to fall in love with somebody that lied on her, harassed, stalked her and caused her family to look down on her for his own reasons. To make matters worse she had no idea that he was her ex boyfriends brother-in-law. Other events take place and he pretty much kidnapped her and tortures her. Long story short they love each other again and live happily ever after.

This is the most twisted crap I’ve ever seen. Not only was the male leads behaviors equivalent to that of a psycho, her parents willingness to hand her over was even more disgusting. I did not find this romantic but I did find it creepy and somewhat disturbing. I don’t care how many fields of flowers you walk in the whole plot and was sick and unromantic. I gave it a 6 for the acting.

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Boring as hell ...

How can such a short series be so boring? Strongberry is not back with a solid BL. The finale was split in two parts, just a cash grab because it added only 7 Minutes more to episode 12/1... What a waste of money. They even did not complete the story of the side couple. So this series has only 12 episodes where the second one is extended to around 23 minutes.

So overall, while the actors are cute to handsome, they were as good as the script let them. The story started with a nice premise but it got boring fast, because there was not much character development for a long time. The also added the kinda "bad" woman for too long imho. I don't like people medling in other peoples affair. Especially bad for the side couple, they are "floating" in the air and we don't know if they did get together or not. At a positive note, they did really kiss :)

So this is a medicore show which did not kept me interested past the 6th episode. For a KBL it's quite disappointing, but after "The Idol" it's an slight improvment.

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Problematic But Brave

As other reviews attest, it is far too easy to "punch down" in reviewing this series: its flaws are many and criticism is warranted. And yet, I didn't give up and actually looked forward to each week's episode release.

The script chose to tackle and address issues that many stories (BL or not) pretend don't exist: mental health, therapy, institutional/authority figure predation (and the willful ignorance around these predators), and forced prostitution and victim-shaming. I think art, even flawed art, that chooses to speak to power should be praised for what it gets right as well as criticized when part of the execution falls short.

The early episodes did a tremendously deft job in taking us on Ice's journey as he continued to heal. Some of the most outstanding scenes during the characters' workshop sessions were understated and they let the subtext speak volumes that the script did not. Their workshop scenes were heartbreaking and hopeful, and watching two fractured people attempt to create connection (while one is still reeling from the trauma of sexual exploitation) was masterfully done. In fact, I might go out on a ledge and say those scenes in particular are some of my most memorable from the 2025 season and the best acting executed by the leads.

Yes, the second and third acts piled trauma on top of trauma, trope on top of trope, to the detriment of the story that was offered in act one. To me, it felt like the production team had tremendous courage to tell a unique story as they started, but got scared and retreated into genre semantics and syntax as the story progressed. If they had had the courage to keep the story smaller, the plot contrivances fewer, they had a chance to tell a very aching redemption story for our two leads.

And the reviews citing Ice's toxic boyfriend as an unnecessary element, in my opinion, miss the point of that subplot. Ice still feels unworthy and "tainted" when he chooses that relationship- there is a part of him that wants to wallow there as those feelings are at least familiar. He specifically chose a partner that would create the feelings in him he felt he deserved. Moving past Warm was a sign of growth and healing for Ice. Too often, survivors feel unworthy of real, sustained happiness and will continue in relationships that keep them in their "normal" state of stress, self-loathing, and self-doubt. Did the writers take that arc too far? Absolutely. This is just one example of courage in act one that retreated into trope by the end of the series.

Overall, this definitely is not a "seek it out" kind of show. But if you're in a generous mood and looking to watch a flawed but brave series, indulge your curiosity.

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Wow. They took exaggeration to a whole new level with Best Wedding. I love the writer is bringing to light an issue that is prevalent in some countries. I think in the US most judges tend to give custody to the mother, but it is a case by case basis in most states. Plus, in the US there are all kinds of family dynamics. If this drama (even exaggerated) is a depiction of Korean reality when it comes to single motherhood and what makes people family, then it is just sad. Honestly, this drama had me on an emotional roller coaster. I almost gave it a 10 for that alone. However, some of the characters could have been better developed. For example Park Tae Yong was all over the place. Even until the end I was uncertain of his character. I had the same feeling about Hyeon Myeong Yi. I also thought the side stories were unnecessary and boring. Regardless, the ending was OK.

Park Shi Yen and the writer did an excellent job balancing the strength and vulnerability of Hyeon Myeong Yi. Bae Su Bin was also good as the strange and unusual Jo Eun Cha. Their characters were the most consistent and had the best growth. The other actors were fine also. Little Dan is just too cute.

Side note: Although I don't find No Min Woo to be that great of an actor, he does strip a few times in this. Worth watching those parts. Keke

The music was appropriate.

I will never rewatch this.

This is a good drama. I recommend it.

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It is said, colors, like features, follow the change of emotions

As the saying goes, emotions are the color of the soul. I can't even imagine being color blind. The editing and directing are brilliantly done. I particularly love the explosion of colors; the instance Yoo Han (Heo Hyun Jun, looks amazing)
removes his mask, and the rush of emotions reflected in color beaming in Yeon Woo's (Yoo Jun, what beautiful eyes he has) eyes is indeed a beautiful sight. I do agree with Yoo Han; Yeon Woo is so totally pretty. It's only two 16-minute episodes, but I am impressed with the writing, directing, editing, acting, and despite the shortness of the episode, the jest of it comes through. I particularly like how color is used to reflect our lead actors' emotions, mindset, and current state of mind. How wonderful it would be to experience emotions reflected in color, washing over our surroundings. I am intrigued.

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Worth watching !! cant get over the love story between SuMo and BaiYing

I saw there are so many negative review for MTC and I wanting to give my own honest review on this Drama.

Honest review/opinion from me:
This is my first time writing long review so please excuse my English if there is grammar error or wording mistake. I believe because MTC is an adaptation from a famous novel by Cang Liu/ there will be 2 different group of audience for this drama. One is those who love the novel and come to see the drama / the other one is those who love the cast or wowed by the preview and waiting for the drama.

From the beginning the start the marketing of MTC / I have always been looking forward to this drama because of the amazing cast. I love LYF / Yukee and ZYC. MTC also have a very strong lineup of supporting casts.

Story line beginning and ending:
It is indeed a slow start because the writer wanting to show us how Sumo and Baiying met 100 years ago and what happened between them that lead to the destruction of Kong Sang. From Novel fan perspective / they have hated the beginning because of the way writer has changed the story. For audience who hasn’t read the novel they try to find ML and FL chemistry because of the strong love story first 5 eps try to portray. People often complained that it doesn’t make sense they fall in love “true love” just like that. What they don’t know is / Su Mo / Bai Ying and Zhen Lan has been brought together one more time by fate of what happened to them 7000 years ago.

The story does get very interesting from Eps 9 to 36!! It explained a lot of things and slowly the pieces come together as of the real reason on where the problem started. Eps 36-43 felt a bit rushed and I believe they cut a lot of scene that make it looks like the series is not properly done. However this might also be due to the censorship matter in china.
I also felt that it will be more interesting if they put more fighting scene and don’t just cut it half way. CGI can be improved too. They should show more sword skills fighting from Baiying/Xijing and Yu Huan. I also felt that the scriptwriter focus mostly on Sumo and they let Zhen Lan down !! Zhen Lan has been portrayed as a weak CP from beginning to the end and I expect him to do much better. Same as Bai Ying / the scriptwriter pretty much made SUMO carrying the whole team by himself as he is always there to do the hard work.

Acting from FL and ML and other supporting casts:
LYF did a good job portraying Sumo. I don’t know why I think he did a superb job. Su Mo character is a very complicated character. LYF acting shows the different of playful and witty Sumo when he first met Baiying and he changed to more quiet character / less cheerful / less smiling after Qing Chen captured threaten him and his clan. Then he shows the real Sea King vibe when he come back 100 years later.

Yukee- her acting indeed a bit weird in MTC and I can only understand why after re watched this drama. Bai ying carried such a huge burden and she always feel guilty that the destruction of Kong Sang happened because of her selfishness. Being someone who always wants to lead a free life Baiying felt very “restrained” and unable to express herself. I think this is one of the reasons why in first few eps / Yukee was just staring or standing like she is thinking of something. It is not easy to portray this character so I still appreciate Yukee for taking this roles.

ZYC and other supporting lists did a great job !!

Ending:
I can’t get over the ending for 3 days and then after re watching I decided to treat this as HE just because Zhen Lan mentioned about Sea God will be back..

So far I personally enjoy this Movie very much and love the cast. I don’t agree with such a low score of 3.9 in Douban. I felt that score is way too low and there are so many worse dramas out there compare to MTC. LYF/Yukee/ZYC all did wonderful job and it is a hard work to begin with. The novel adaption aint easy !! I appreciate all the actors and I will continue to support MTC xx

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Has everything except for the plot

I really loved the first few episodes — there wasn’t much of a plot but the “city girl escapes to the countryside” premise promises comfort and I definitely felt that. There was the overarching plot of Samdal’s career, the yearning of an exes-to-lovers romance, and the three sisters providing the family aspect — all of which I loved.

And then as the show went on it started to drag, and I found that there weren’t that much of the countryside vibes, and they introduced plots that were detrimental instead.

First there’s the love triangle, which is the most unnecessary part of the show, and I’m saying this as a love triangle trope defender. The love triangle where the second lead has zero shot, who the FL never once considers a potential love interest, and who has no plot other than the romance and standing in the shadows looking at the main couple steadily progress…we have to leave that behind because all it does is waste screentime.

And then there was the reason behind the main couple’s initial breakup: parental disapproval. It’s a common trope in kdramaland too, and one that I also think is really outdated and frustrating, especially for a drama like this where there’s really nothing else going on.

A third thing that got too much screentime was the gossipy old ladies, who were frustrating even if they weren’t completely horrible by the end.

In terms of the subplots, I think they started out strong but also fizzled out a little. The eldest sister’s romance with her ex-husband was really funny but I wish it was more serious at times rather than making it all so slapstick. The youngest sister’s romance and relationship with her daughter was the best part of the show, especially in connecting the theme of motherhood throughout the show. It’s a fantastic theme that I wish had a better throughline rather than coming in and out, because the mother-daughter scenes always hit really hard.

I also actually really like the focus on Samdal’s career and her adversary, and I wish it didn’t come so late in the show. I also wish they didn’t lean so much into one character being downright evil, and it doesn’t quite give you the satisfaction of karma getting her in the end due to lack of screentime. The plot line of Samdal rediscovering her love for her hometown and photography was really heartwarming still.

Another thing I wish got more screentime was the friend group. We had some at the start of the show when Samdal returned and some at the end when they were helping her, but overall the show leaned into the love triangle and other scenes instead and I felt like we never really got to feel how close they were the way we grow to love the friend groups in dramas like the Reply series.

Overall, it ends on a satisfying note and wraps things up in a neat little bow, but I feel like I didn’t quite get as many comforting vibes I wanted.

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zero boundaries and a lot of trauma

Overall: at times I liked the faster pacing, but there was too much pain/trauma/ignoring boundaries. This was an adaptation of MAME's book which I haven't read (but believe she writes bodice ripper type books with the fictional mouth says no but body says yes). There was already a Thai adaptation. I tried to review the Japanese version based on its own merits. 8 episodes about 15 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4928/love-in-the-air-2024-e01

Content Warnings: rape, past gang rape, sexual assault, intimate partner abuse, trauma, non/dub con kissing/touching, manipulation, harassment, manhandling, kidnapping, violence, blackmail

What I Liked
- fast pacing (though the first couple could have perhaps used more development/screen time, and less with the past stuff for the second couple)
- hair drying was cute
- the dream kiss
- NSFW scene in episode 4 was fairly well done (though more enthusiastic kissing from 1 person would have been nice)
- Kai was a supportive friend
- non cliche female character

Room For Improvement
- not really sold on the chemistry with either pair, Kai and Fuma actors should have been switched and Fuma's hideous suits made him look younger
- starting in the present and then going to an extended flashback
- the "plan"/nonsense approach
- the spanking was cringey
- odd progression with the flashback in episode 5 and then the devotion in the present, felt very "because the writer said so"
- (neutral) the hyper/over acting type character

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Such a sweeeeeettt heart touching romance drama!!!!

I've never really written a proper review on any of the dramas I've watched but this one's special. I loved this drama so much, like the plot, the vibe of the drama, the acting of the leads, the chemistry, everything was so perfectly done! I loved how the main couple's (tbh the side actors as well) acting was so natural and just flawless, no cringy stuff at all. It sometimes felt as if I was a third wheel while watching their sweet scenes lmao. Nevertheless, I'm definitely recommending this drama to everyone who might come across this review. Especially to those who love "all-sweet" romance, no cringe, no misunderstandings, no love triangles, no meanies to break the leads apart, supportive friends/family type of dramas- this one's for y'all. :)

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Must watch

I never watched censor adaptation of novels but this one It catch your attention from the first episode. I have been addicted to it. Even tho subs was not accurate enough .I just watch it and then read the novel to understand (yes i was this much addicted ) .

I will recommend this to you if you like to watch plots like gaming( detective games ), virtual reality, friendship(ahm ahm), and different stories in one series.
there were 12 gates in this story and story of each gate is worth to watch. You will never feel bored of it. Its sad that it got banned but I hope it get the recognition it deserved. The acting was so good each actor give their best.
I will definitely re-watch it again when subs will be accurate :)))

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the romantic love story of Pikachu and a great swimming athlete.

I really enjoy the story of this drama, the story of this drama is not heavy but interesting to follow, a beautiful and loyal love story between the two main players is an important ingredient in this drama besides the appearance of the male lead who is very handsome and charming as a swimmer athlete really becomes my reasons and points for finishing this drama, even though he is a newcomer but his performance can be compared to actors who have developed in the acting world for several years. I was quite surprised by his good performance.

of course for those who like sports dramas, don't miss this one.

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Watching this drama is like boarding a luxury cruise ship, and thinking you you are going to have a fabulous vacation, then right when you start having the best time ever you hear Celine Dion start to sing about her heart and you realize the ship is about to crash into an iceberg, and you want to get off, or turn back, but it's too late. Honestly, I sensed early on that this show would be a disaster, but I loved the main 3 characters so much that I didn't want to believe it.

The best part of this story is the relationship between Gong Shim, Joon Soo, and Ahn Dan Tae (I don't know why the sister is even in the promo pic). The bromance, the romance, even the rivalry works. Together they are hilarious and heartwarming. I loved weird Gong Shim, in her wig. I think Min Ah was a strong leading lady. I loved sweet Joon Soo with his perpetual smile. Ohn Joo Wan is adorable. I loved seeing Nam Gung Min not play a sinister bad guy, but instead play a strangely adorable character with a random super power. The early episodes, where we get to know these characters, and they get to know each other, are the best episodes. It's like a completely different show compared to the rest of the drama. As soon as they started getting more into the missing kid storyline, the show went from fun romcom to the stupidest mystery thriller ever.

I am so angry at the writing that I actually had to google the writer. Apparently she wrote for some dramas that I liked, so I don't get it. I am giving the story a 4 only because of those early moments between the 3 characters, but honestly the cast deserves the credit for that. The story itself deserves maybe a 2.5 at best. The worst part of the story is that everything is obvious from the very beginning. EVERYTHING. We watch the whole show waiting for the characters to figure out what we already know, and watch them frustratingly misunderstand each other in the process. What also doesn't help is that our main characters suddenly start acting completely different. Ahn Dan Tae starts to literally seem like he has multiple personality disorder. He always retains at least a small part of his charm, because Nam Gung Min is a great actor, but once he started to change the show became less interesting. His booty is consistent though, and deserves an honorable mention.

The rest of the cast is pretty mediocre, and stereotypical, while some have some really horrible overacting moments. I liked Gong Shim' parents, but her sister is a useless character. If they wanted to make her a serious rival that we cared about, then she should have been much more involved in the story. The grandmother was another character that I honestly didn't care about, and some of her crying scenes were laughably bad. I liked the dude from the convenience store, but when a minor convenience store character outshines other major characters, you know something is very very wrong.

The soundtrack is good though. I really liked a lot of the songs, but some lost their charm when the show started to.

Overall, this is a drama of wasted potential. It didn't know if it wanted to be a romcom, or a melodrama, or a thriller, so it just tried to sloppily integrate the them all. All that did was water down what they could have done well.

As much as I want to recommend watching the 3 main leads, I have to recommend skipping this one. The story goes nowhere. It's longer than it should be, and felt like it. It desperately clings to drama clichés to fill in the time. The last two episodes are embarrassingly bad. Not only do they pretty much identical to another drama that aired around the same time, but the closure for the characters felt so forced that I could't take it seriously.

I hope someone takes the best moments between the three leads and edits this show to be the length it's supposed to be (10 episodes max!). I would recommend watching that video in a heartbeat. Otherwise watching 20 episodes of this is not worth hitting the iceberg. And if you already started it, don't listen to rose, it's ok to let go.

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Lets get this out the way cus I know someone is gonna kill me for parts of this statement.

Despite my torn opinion of him as an actor (damn your managers for steering you to more crap roles than good), "Black & White" has firmly asserted Vic Zhou into my mind as a "actor" and not a "Idol actor".

Yes I liked him in "Mars" and "Sweet Relationship" but it was his portrayal of the not-so-by-the-book "Chen Zai Tian(Pi Zi)" that made me go back and re-watch those dramas to confirm to myself; "Was he always this good?"

In this we have him playing a cop with more going on under the surface than meets the eye, partnered with a straight laced kind of cop, "Wu Ying Xiong" played by Mark Chao.

First of all, the dynamic between these two was bloody brilliant.

I love how "Zai Tian" was like the Captain Jack Sparrow of policing, down to the little walk and womanizing. Vic Zhou had us rolling our eyes and laughing at every wink, saunter and hushed seduction While Mark Chao's "Ying Xiong" had us busting stitches at every foiled seduction attempt he smote like some cock-blocking god.

But with every laugh they got us with every dramatic scene too, not overly done, nor overly drawn out, which was a godsend because some dramas can wring out that angst for all it's got and still ask for another bucket.

While the characters were a good symmetry for each other, the story writing and editing and directing were just as perfectly matched.

You don't feel rushed while watching it, and you don't feel it's too slow. Just the right pace, coupled with great actors putting it to the best that they can push it made "Black & White" the best Taiwanese produced drama I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

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