Superb casting, acting, script and directing
It’s available as VIP on YOUKU app. The money I spent for the last three episodes is well worth it. This series was well constructed and casted perfectly. The character and story development is smooth. Each actor brought their character to life with so much emotion and simple gestures.I’ve never cried so much. Each episode is so emotional, both happy and sad. 10/10 recommended
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Compelling tragic hero story weakened by uninspired direction
For me, it was one of those dramas you continue watching because you want to know how the story ends and what happens to the characters you like but not necessarily enjoy the road to get there. I felt disengaged from the individual cases because there was very little space given to get emotionally involved or get your brain gears turning as a viewer. Everything was quickly introduced and quickly resolved, with not much tension or nuance in the storytelling. There was more talking about investigating than actual investigation being shown on screen. I cannot stress this enough, this drama involves hours of people standing around discussing stuff... My fellow suspense junkies, do not approach! On the other hand, the martial arts scenes were nicely filmed and quite exciting.Cheng Yi excelled in his role as Li Lianhua. He is the soul and heart of this drama. A rare compulsive liar protagonist who completely won me over. Once a hopeful, audacious hero now cynical and disillusioned with the world. The wall he built around him gets dismantled brick by brick, first by an offer of friendship from an eager and idealistic young detective, then being forced to deal with unresolved past issues. Watching him shamelessly toy with young Fang Xiaobao was a pleasure. I wish the reluctant friendship with his erstwhile enemy, Di Feisheng, was given more screentime though. It was way more interesting to me than the overused master and apprentice bond.
I think Di Feisheng’s story arc dealing with his past was criminally underdeveloped. His lifelong struggle to break free from the confines of his brutal past was given a 5-minute resolution before the drama galloped on. That was a major disappointment for me. He was such an interesting, layered character and yet he was absent from almost half of the episodes. In general, secondary characters weren't fleshed out very well and only a few got closure. No one was particularly memorable or original. The villains were boring, shallow Wuxia clichés too. Honestly, if it weren't for Li Lianhua being such a compelling tragic hero, I would've dropped it before the halfway mark.
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With Hikuma-sensei on top, each of those characters captured my attention. Those guys who were like some little immature gangsters who deserved to be beaten up, ah those 5 guys, their growth through the drama was amazing, how they become mature, serious young people with dreams, will and persistence, how they opened up to each other and sensei, how they were inseparable as a team, their friendship is for sure one of the most beautiful I've seen.
So many funny moments, sad moments, heartbreaking and heartwarming, fluffy and hilarious, important and full of meaning, this drama simply is a full package. It gives you with such simple, ordinary and already seen plot, everything you need and want to see in one drama. Well except romance, here it just wasn't needed and I'm glad that there wasn't any romance going on cause it would only destroy those precious moments between students and teacher.
I'd like to mention this old man, this fantastic actor who I love since I've watched him in 'Professor's Beloved Equation'. He gives such natural vibe every time, it's like he is there with all his heart and mind, incredible. And in this drama he was marvelous, his portrayal of a teacher who came to school full of delinquents to help them form a brass band was really impressive. I totally wanted Hikuma sensei to be my teacher, to be my friend, I wanted so much to talk to him and be the part of a band, one lovely good man who believed in his students till the end, who fought and didn't give up, who taught them so many life lessons, who helped them and always was there, I don't think that in real life is some teacher like he was. And with Terao Akira Hikuma sensei completely came to life.
Other characters were very well written and developed specially our five main guys, in each episode there is a story about one of them, explaining how and why they're this way in the present and with each episode every one of them grows and matures.
With some really breathtaking sceneries and nice usage of colors, with melodies that will take you to some amazing classical event and bring you vivid imagination, with fantastic script, deep lessons and with great characters, Aegoba will become that kind of drama that will hold a special place in your heart. I know now already how much I'm gonna miss all of them and their world, that wide world Himua sensei showed to us.
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I enjoyed it but after a while it becomes so boring when the characters start to have the same conversations over and over and over again. After a while, all conversations felt like recaps of what had happened and scenes became a mixture of this, plus a bit of teasing about how things might work out next.
It felt like always waiting for things to happen, with strangely dull payoff. I think someone said in their review here that Dan Oh's role becomes just exclaiming 'Ha Ru!' towards the end, and they weren't wrong. A shame - there was so much opportunity! There were so many makings-of-good moments that were enough to keep you watching through the increasingly mundane scenes towards the end - I just wish it had more of these.
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IT WAS AN HONOR TO WATCH THIS SHOW.
For those who are wondering and debating whether this show is worth it, it took me months to convince myself to watch this considering it's about middle aged men and i'm in my 20's and had no romance, sci fi, thriller tags. but how glad i am i finally did! So please watch this. This is a must watch. There is NO korean drama like this. It's the first of it's kind and i wish with all my heart this becomes the standard of korean dramas from now onwards. this is a therapeutic show in my eyes.
This show is all sorts of beautiful. This show is not about solutions, not about how life should be, not about closure or happy endings or sad endings or a directed story told in a few episodes. This show is a chunk of life shown of people at different stages of their life. This show is the most realest show i have ever watched. It made me laugh and cry. The storyline, the direction, cinematography, the music, everything was just perfect.
This show not once glorified life. It showed it how it is. That's the beauty of this show.
The emotions in this show are so overwhelming it's crazy. I felt so attached to the characters it's so sad this show ended but what an ending it was. It makes me believe. Makes me hope. It taught me so many life lessons. Seldom is a show this beautiful made that encapsulates life so beautifully by keeping it 100% real.
The love in this show is the most deepest i have ever seen in any. It is a show with the most meaningful love and it didn't even have to be a romantic drama. Everyone can interpret love differently for this show. I choose to interpret it as love between a man and a woman who felt their souls being attracted to each other. Without any skinship, any cheesy romantic words, this show was able to show the love that if one finds it in life, they have it all. The most purest of all loves. The two souls who met each other in their most broken states, healed, filled each other despite. Souls that helped each other grow. The love in this drama is unlike any other. Most deepest, most heartfelt, most relatable.
The cast was beautiful! absolutely perfect. the best acting i've seen. IU's role was so different than her previous ones and she proved how good of an actor she is. she was FANTASTIC. Lee Sun Gyun was a treat to watch. This was the first i saw of him ever since Coffee Prince and i knew instantly why back then i had a second lead syndrome. He was INCREDIBLE. His every nerve expressed emotions. His eyes spoke millions, his walk, his talk. He was a show stealer. Plus, he has the best voice ever. Calms your soul and his character with that voice just melted me. (considering i'm in my early 20's, Ahjussi, saranghae :P ) .
VERDICT: WATCH THIS SHOW. LEAVE EVERYTHING AND WATCH THIS SHOW. this show is LIFE!
Thankyou screenwriters, producers, directors, the entire cast, the entire team behind this show for making one of the best shows ever and thankyou for giving us this masterpiece that is full of life lessons. I repeat, it was an absolute HONOR to watch this show.
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This review may contain spoilers
It had the potential to be great but it was just mid:(
I like the start of the series. The kids are amazing actors, really so talented. They could really awoke some feelings within viewers. The plot was great at the beginning. I like the concept of family by choice and not the blood.Both father figures were great, you could really feel the love they had for the kids. But both mother were infuriating, i was so mad while watching so yeah great choice of actors on both sides.
I like the cast overall and didn’t mind the time jumpes, but what irks me the most is this - when i read about what this series was about its says that juwon was mad at them for leaving her (as she should be). And then all of this to just resolve in a couple of minutes?! They left her behind for 10 years! And withing (I think an episode) they come back, she stops being angry with them, and starts daring San-ha? Like what?
I get that they could not prolong the plot but still they should film maybe 20episodes not just 16. Everything seemed rushed. It would be way better for them to take it slow i mean we all know san-ha liked her before but it would be way better for junwo to realise her feelings on her own as the time passed. I was kinda disappointed.
I mean she was mad at her oppas and then the next moment she was dating one of them?? Also the description kinda implied rivalry for her love? I was really disappointed.
Also San-ha was traumatized, suffering with ptsd, it was a great opportunity to talk more about mental health but it was just brusher under the carpet. This was another great example of rushing through.
I think it maybe is my fault for expecting too much of it, but after watching love next door and hearing all the praise it got of course i had higher expectations because family by choice also got a lot of praise over social media.
Don’t get me wrong it’s not the worst kdrama i watched but it is definitely overrated and overhyped. But maybe if you don’t have any expectations it could be okay. I dont know.
So to conclude - great actor choice, lovely meaning about family, but rushed plot. Its kinda sad it really had all the potential:(
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Subtitles Are SO Bad
The subtitles are ridiculously bad. I mean, really REALLY bad. The acting is also pretty flat all around. I had zero buy-in with the MLs because they have no chemistry at all. Not even a redeemable hint of chemistry from the first meeting to the present. Also, there are inconsistencies throughout that should have been caught in the scriptwriting. For example, blood where blood shouldn’t be and absent where it should be; bruising absent when there should be; a 7-year flashback that doesn’t add up, etc…Really, the whole first episode was a mess. Dropped.
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whats in it?
1. best tragidramedy japanese movie that seen by bokami
2. this isnt a romcom but it looks like it
3. musical? (yes, but the musical scene is just for the
protagonist psychological POV)..hmm metaphor?
5. its long but very fast pacing...and no scene was boring from
5mins onward to end
6. it have a yum yum puzzling story and once you combine
it...you will get an emotinal overflow
7. only ironman will not like this
8. the storytelling is nonlinear so confusion will rise if your a
fan of clche and straightforward spoonfeed kind of plots
9. Eyecandy cinematoraphy,,,,,is uber in this
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Should’ve been shorter.
If you’re not going to give us character development and more depth to the plot, then keep the drama short. It was fun and entertaining at the start, but the conflict everything revolves around of is not really that great. I think it would have been better if it had like 12 episodes. I eventually stopped caring about the main leads because of how little they change, they slowly stopped being likable, they just kept doing the same mistakes, the drama reused the same memories to justify their love story. We get it, they’re gonna end up together no matter what, but give us at least real situations that they can learn something from. In the last episodes I just kept watching because I founded Ji Woong’s story interesting.Visually speaking it was really beautiful, those visuals deserved a better story.
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One of the Must-Watch dramas of 2023.
*chefs kiss *What a drama. What a cast. Easily one of the best dramas of 2023.
This drama didn't waste anytime in establishing who or why a Vigilante became a Vigilante in the first place. It started off with a bang and never allowed room for distraction or time to relax. It was fast paced with well written storyline and direction.
Nam Joo Hyuk was amazing as the dark hero. I always thought he was a romantic hero, but in this drama he shined as an anti hero. And I can't stop raving about Lee Joon Hyuk. I absolutely loved loved every single scene he was in. I have loved his character in Stranger, so in this drama I knew I would I totally dig him and I did. He really excels with characters like these.
What I adored about this drama was that there was no unnecessary fillers or screen time. Every single character is there for a reason and a purpose. Also, it's amazing how the drama didn't waste one single frame. With a tight script, brilliant actors and a perfect storyline, this drama got it all.
9.5/10
Now all this drama needs is a Season 2!!!!!! And easily I would be rating it as a perfect 10.
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Han Seok Kyu is an excellent actor who made me hate and love King Yeong Jo equally. Above the boring politics story line is a father/son relationship that was volatile. The conflicted thoughts and emotions Seok Kyu portrayed was palpable. Lee Je Hoon is unexpectedly good as Prince Sado. He was strong, conflicted, sad and did what he needed to do to realize a world for the citizens to the very end. I wonder if he was happy even once in his entire life. I believed him and that is a tribute to his acting. I love Kim Yoo Jung. She is a wonderful actress that only seems to get better as time goes on. They shouldn't have replaced her. The other actors are good too, but for me it was all about the father/son relationship.
The music is appropriate.
I will never rewatch this.
If you favorite genre is Seaguk, then you will certainly love this drama
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This review may contain spoilers
Steamy and Sexy with Hot Kisses!
WOW! The start of this drama will make you wonder what you are watching, but let me tell you, the smile that will come across your face is so worth it.We all know Dai Gao Zheng who has been in some of the steamiest short dramas such as: Maid’s Revenge, Bride’s Revenge, Her Revenge, Forever Love, you get the picture. But this drama, puts all those to shame.
The second episode, whew, but let me stop getting ahead of myself.
This story is about ML (Dai Gao Zheng aka Gu Lin Yuan) and FL (Tu Zhi Ying aka Yun Fei Fei) who both belong to different sects. Gu Lin Yuan is the Enforcer of the Qian Kun Sect and Yun Fei Fei is Head Constable of the Liushan Agency. Their first meeting had to do with the Perish Pills that were being sold illegally. Both Gu Lin Yuan and Yun Fei Fei have a huge fight which led to both of their masks coming off, revealing their true identities to each other.
Yun Fei Fei had been searching for Gu Lin Yuan for two years. Standing right in front of her was the man that she loved--Gu Lin Yuan the enforcer of the Qian Kun Sect. To say she was shocked was putting it mildly. She was truly excited to see him but for Gu Lin Yuan, he was indifferent, cold and mean to her after finding out who she was. Yun Fei Fei was perplexed and could not understand that the man she held so dearly in her heart could be this way.
She tells Gu Lin Yuan she heard that he was marrying SFL (Liu Xi Yu aka Du Xiao Yu) and she was not willing to allow him to marry her. By far, this has to be the HOTTEST make out scene in a dressing room EVER. Yun Fei Fei begins to undress Gu Lin Yuan, belt goes, robe goes until he pushes her away and tells her she is crazy. Why is that? Because right next door is Du Xiao Yu trying on her wedding dress. Yun Fei Fei tells him is he afraid of her hearing them. So, what is a woman to do. She starts undressing and when she reveals her bare shoulder, he pushes her away only for her to start kissing him. I mean kissing him. He snatches her up, literally and puts her on the dresser in the room, hands over top of her head, this man is going for it until you hear Du Xiao Yu ask if he is okay. But how can he answer when he is in deep, I mean deep into some hot kisses with Yun Fei Fei. He finally pushes her back with his eyes glazed over, he tells Du Xiao Yu he is coming. I mean that seriously is the hottest kissing scene that will make you want to see more. You will be rewatching this scene. He is all over Yun Fei Fei. Whew!
Let’s talk about the wedding. Yun Fei Fei sneaks into Gu Lin Yuan’s room as he is preparing for the wedding only for Du Xiao Yu to come in. Gu Lin Yuan throws Yun Fei Fei in his bed to hide her from Du Xiao Yu, but she decides that she will dress there for the wedding. The sexiness between these two is crazy. While Du Xiao Yu is changing, we have Gu Lin Yuan getting more kisses from Yun Fei Fei who is in the bed unbeknownst to Du Xiao Yu what is going on behind her. Gu Lin Yuan knows that Du Xiao Yu is about to come out, so he lifts up Yun Fei Fei who starts kissing him again while Du Xiao Yu is calling his name, and he is kissing Yun Fei Fei until he hits Du Xiao Yu and knocks her out. Yun Fei Fei takes the place of the bride. Crazy! They don’t get married because Du Xiao Yu comes in and interrupts.
Yun Fei Fei is not without a man herself -- SML (Chris Zhu aka Xiang Li Ting). We see a jealousy creep into Gu Lin Yuan when he sees Xiang Li Ting holding Yun Fei Fei’s hand. He is thoroughly ticked off because he thinks they have a relationship, and he doesn’t like it. Xiang Li Ting wants to stop the animosity between the two and offers them tea to settle their differences. Wait until you see him drink her tea…whew! He drinks the tea on same side of the cup as her. You know, kissing without kissing. Oh yeah! You have to love this man's sexiness in every way.
We do find out what had happened to cause Gu Lin Yuan and Yun Fei Fei to leave each other. Yue Tianxing, Liushan Agency’s Grand Constable, tried to rape Yun Fei Fei. You see Yun Fei Fei was considered the "foster son" of him and had been in disguise for many years. Yue Tianxing finds out she is a girl and tries to rape her only to be stabbed by both her and Gu Lin Yuan. To protect Yun Fei Fei, Gu Lin Yuan stabbed himself claiming he was the "foster son" of Yue Tianxing. When Du Xiao Yu came across him and saw the stab wound, he told her that he was the son they were looking for. Taking him, he was beaten and tortured and a drug tester for the Perish Pills to control him.
All parties knew there was a secret letter left by Yue Tianxing for the antidote for the Perish Pills, but no one could figure out how to read the letter but the “foster son” of Yue Tianxing which was Yun Fei Fei. Many clues abound for helping them find the letter as well. But only Gu Lin Yuan and Yun Fei Fei can find it because of the necklaces they both wore.
There is double crossing by Xiang Li Ting who is working with Du Xiao Yu to get the letter. We also see Du Xiao Yu put carefree needles in Yun Fei Fei which causes her to lose her memory. Xiang Li Ting takes this opportunity to make her believe that he is her true love and to get her to marry him. But Gu Lin Yuan is not to be outdone. When he comes into the wedding to get his beloved. He is ALL that. I mean, he tells them he will kill them all. They go to the mountains where they won't be found for 10 days so he can remove the needles. But there is a downside: 1) he will begin to lose his mind and 2) she will never regain her memory after all the needles are removed.
Gu Lin Yuan painstakingly does everything for Yun Fei Fei to regain her memory but not before he is captured by Xiang Li Ting. Her memories finally come back to her as she is standing in the field where Gu Lin Yuan made the swing for her. The bell on the swing began to ring causing her to have a flood of memories. You also get to see some of those hot kisses again.
As she is running back to save Gu Lin Yuan from being executed, she remembers how to decipher the letter for the antidote of the Perish Pills. She admits she is the real "foster son" of Yue Tianxing. Confessing Du Xiao Yu tries to Yun Fei Fei until Chu Xin steps in and saves both her and Gu Lin Yuan and gets them to the temple.
Yes, we have a wedding with the two childhood sweethearts. It is just those two. Then he carries her to the bed and well, we are given again the pleasure of some good kisses and just making out!!!
Both Gu Lin Yuan and Yun Fei Fei join forces to get the antidote to help all those who have been given the Perish Pill. Gu Lin Yuan is protecting Yun Fei Fei as she gets the antidote based off of the letter because Du Xiao Yu and Xiang Li Ting come to stop them. Xiang Li Ting stabs Gu Lin Yuan fatally, so it appears but not before he kills him. Because of the poisonous smoke, Yun Fei Fei cannot see so Gu Lin Yuan has to be her eyes to read out the antidote.
A month later, it was known that Yue Tianxing was corrupt and used the Perish Pills to control individuals, so his death was acceptable by Gu Lin Yuan and Yun Fei Fei. Because they help give the antidote they were no longer charged as criminals for killing Yue Tianxing. They both then left to stay together and never be a part.
I can only say that Dai is too much in this drama. The kisses and the sensuality that he gave off were 100. This man seriously needs a main role in a major drama. There were so many scenes of him and his FL that their chemistry was dynamic.
Yes, I definitely recommend this drama because the hotness of Dai just sizzles. You will NOT be disappointed. You will definitely not be lost, and you will definitely be found loving Dai even more. Enjoy!
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Yamapi (Naoki) is a great actor here but sometimes he falls a bit flat, making his character feel a bit two-dimensional, though it's mostly due to his lines (not his fault - he's a great actor).
The chemistry between Naoki and Riko was wonderful, though it's true when Natsuki said their relationship is just to "lick each other's wounds" I felt that it was true, in a sense that they played more on the "dream" part than the "love" part.
I love the way they portray characters and each and every single one of the character, be it minor or major brought an interesting part to the show.
Props goes to Shuji, Mai-chan and Utsu - they were supporting actors but they were FANTASTIC. Love the way they bring out their characters!
A light hearted drama without being too pointless or too serious - great watch. You can't help but to fall head over heels with Yamapi here!
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I'm a big fan of Yamapi, so it was obvious that I would give this a try. And I wasn't disappointed. The plot was a bit different from other dramas, or maybe I should say it was less drama than in other dramas. And believe it or not, I found that to be really nice.
It's a story about love and friendship and about finding your way in life. But, it was realistic and a story that could happen to anyone and that's why I found it to be different from other dramas. It's nice to once in a while watch a drama that could happen in real life and somehow I found myself recognizing so much that happened to my daily life.
Overall, a goodfeel drama with good cast. Watch it!
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