This review may contain spoilers
I wanted to wait as long as possible before writing a review on this... I needed time to collect my feels and push away my biased opinions.Want a short, general idea? Go down to the bottom. *no specific spoilers*
Music: It was great music. I loved listening to it and downloaded the OST's. It seemed to match the mood perfectly (it brought tears to my eyes more than once) and I don't think I will be forgetting the music anytime soon.
Rewatch: I've already rewatched numerous scenes from Gu Family Book, either to refresh my memory on what had happened previously, or to further appreciate the beautifully heartbreaking scenes (which seemed to dominate the beginning and end of this drama). However, as an entire drama, I do not think I will be rewatching it anytime soon for two reasons: I don't think my heart can take much more heartbreaking scenes, and there were some slow parts that I am hesitant to put myself through again.
Acting/Cast: My gosh were they amazing. This was almost an entirely new cast to me, and I only saw a few familiar faces, but I was definitely taken aback by their acting ability. Yes, many of you may swoon for Lee Seung Gi and Suzy, but you will find yourself adoring the supporting cast as well. The entire cast was delightful to watch (esp Gon, the Monk, and Jung Yoon) - I found myself empathizing with them, relating to them, pitying them, loving them, and (for the bad guys) hating them so much I wanted to reach through the screen and put an end to them myself (props to the actors for portraying "evil" and "cruel" so convincingly). The crying was contagious. Once Kang Chi or Wol Ryung started crying, my gosh I just couldn't stop. Magnificent acting. No complaints here.
Story: Here we go.
Beginning: LOVED it. This may be the BEST beginning to a drama that I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot). Forget hooks, this drama was a black hole that immediately sucks you in to the story. You will not be able to stop halfway through the beginning. All the pieces fit perfectly. The romance was there and blossoming, the suspense was escalating, characterization was established, the heartbreaking scenes were present... I honestly don't think there was anything missing. Beautiful. *mwah*
Middle: ... It was so-so. In fact, it was almost disappointing after the perfect introduction. There was a big leap between beginning and middle, which almost made me drop the drama. Why? Everything in the beginning was perfect to the point where it seemed like a mini-drama itself. As a result, when the time skip happened, BAM. All the characters you loved disappeared, the explosion of suspense only left dust in its wake... it was a new beginning. One that I did not want, nor did I like. Where were the characters whom I was crying for? Yearning for? Gone. But it was ok. The hole that was left was quickly repaired by a new story, new characters to love, new romances formed, and more suspense on the way... sort of. There were slow parts, and sometimes it was deadly slow. For me (an action lover), it was frustrating. But the slow parts helped develop the romance between the characters.* A break from all the melodrama and tragedies. However, stay with it and halfway through, the characters from the beginning will come back, completely reborn. Once they did, the story sped up and there was enough action to keep me watching until the...
*speaking of romance, the romance was great in this drama. Great chemistry between all the couples, and unlike many other dramas, the romance was pure. There was no revenge after betrayal, nor doubt about their love. The women were fighters and the men were gentle, forgiving, protective, and endlessly loveable.
End: I don't actually know if I like it or not, which might be an advantage for me writing an unbiased review of the end. Before the end there was a mini end for the characters from the beginning (Wol Ryung, Seo Hwa etc.). That end... was beautifully done. I found myself crying... but I was happy and content. The problems were concluded and everything was "fixed", in a way. But the story moved forward. The actual end... hm. On one hand, all the loose ends were tied up (even the smallest of details), justice was served, and everything was wrapped up into a nice, neat bundle. Goodbyes were made, explanations were given, and things were concluded- wait what?! That was my exact reaction as I watched the last part of the last episode. I was hit in the face with a boulder that said "PSYCH. It's not over yet". I was... very surprised, not expecting the ending at all. Of course I'm not going to give it away, but remember what I said about new beginnings? Well. I'm still in shock from being hit in the face with that boulder. Then again, the end provides a great leeway into a second series (there better be a second series for the sake of my sanity) and a gateway for your imagination to run wild. What. Happened. Next?
General: All in all, it was a great drama. The beginning was a black hole that sucked viewers in, the middle was sort of like floating in space, not really getting anywhere, and the end was like you crash landed on another planet. The cast was perfect in every way, the romance was innocent and forgiving (due to Kang Chi and Wol Ryung's amazing personalities) and the supporting characters were just as interesting to watch as the main cast. Even if you are not interested in the supernatural aspect, you should still watch it because it does not really focus on that part, but more on the difficulties in life aspect.
Not your type of drama? Message me and I may be able to pull out some other recommendations for you ^^
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This review may contain spoilers
An imperfect story about imperfect people
This drama is not for everyone, especially if you’re looking for a definitive happy ending. This is a tale of love and love lost. It’s thought provoking and challenges you to question your own willingness to take risks for the sake of love and happiness. It evokes deep emotions and makes you reminisce on all the missed opportunities and what if’s in your own life. The pace of the story is well suited. There’s no timeline on love. If you’re destined to be together, fate will find a way to bring you back to each other.Kudos to the actors and production team for putting together a piece of work that I’ll continue to enjoy. The ensemble cast was fantastic and their character portrayals were skillfully executed. The OST was perfection and captured every emotion of these flawed characters.
Highly recommend.
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This review may contain spoilers
Not all heroes wear capes
Overall, it was a decent show, good even.What makes the rating drop like Titanic is the production or rather video editing.
I felt forced to fast-forward most of the episodes because of it and no show is considered a good enough should for good rating if you feel that need.
All things considered, I loved the diversity (even though it felt they tossed in a few foreigners just for the sake of it so they could be somewhat true to their claim about "regardless of gender or race").
As for the gender equality, well.. yeah, no, you can't quite compare, in all honesty.
It showed quite visible the gender difference in some of the games.
The last episode was one of the better ones, because it felt more honest and less scripted, because that is the second reason for low rating; it felt scripted a lot of times. Ep was more down to earth and to be honest, humble somehow.
Compared to the beginning as it felt like a huge brag-n-clown-fest.
I still recommend to watch this, but its not like up there.
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Chosen Family (need a season 2)
Overall: "Our efforts were not wasted, right?" "Yes, it was worth it". The writing in this series is impeccable. Themes and characters I thought were random were later seamlessly integrated. Shifts between comedy and seriousness were impeccably executed. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/82153387Content Warnings: slap, internal and external homophobia, sexism discussed
What I Liked
- addressed marriage equality in a realistic way
- that I didn't know what the next episode will have in store
- discussion of sexism (one of the few romance series I have seen that passed the Bechdel test multiple times)
- how characters had their quirks, but still feel like people I could meet in the real world
- intentional characters, they might have seemed insignificant, but they came back later
- no cartoonish antagonists
- avoided evil ex cliche
Room For Improvement
- I couldn't really sympathize with the mom
- at times the pacing was a bit slow for me
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Love! Love! Love!
This is my first time writing a review!! OH MY GODDD🤌🏻😩❤️ This drama have my whole heart. The best CDRAMA I've watched till date!! If anybody are willing to watch it, just go for it without any second thought. You will never regret watching this.Actually I became fan of CHEN ZHEYUAN after watching Our Secret. His Screen Presence and Acting are just amazing. 💗 Andddd, after watching this... He took my whole heart away with him 😭 How handsome that guy is!! 🤌🏻
The Chemistry between lead pairs is too beautiful to watch 😍 The best lead pair as far. You will never ever get bored by them at any point.
The story is well engaging... Everything is taken perfectly!!❣️
I don't have any favourite female lead till now... But from now, ZHOU LUSI will be the one 🤌🏻💗
Why only 25 episodes for such a beautiful story!!! I really miss them already 🥺
The ML and FL charecters were too good!! Not including any spoilers... People who have not watched it yet, Go for it!!
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A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College
22 people found this review helpful
This review may contain spoilers
Disappointed overall...
Really anticipated this drama as I'm a huge fan of Zhao Lusi, but this drama was a pretty big letdown.The good: the side characters were actually quite likeable, especially YanYan. Ao Rui Peng is absolutely hilarious as Yan Yan. He was funny and over the top in a loveable way. I will definitely be looking for more of his dramas to watch. Also impressed with the SML acting! Sometimes find myself wishing he was the ML instead. Also adorable was the relationship between FL and her father especially at the beginning. The leads' martial arts master was also a cool funny character but he kind of just of disappeared after the first half.
The bad: the plot basically goes in circles. They keep repeating the same ideas (basically they pretend to fall into the villains trap but actually outsmart him again and again). The FL and the ML are not particularly interesting or even likeable. I honestly found myself not caring about what happened to them near the end. The FL and ML have zero chemistry. Zhao Lusi usually has incredible chemistry with her costars but there is nothing here. Their sweet scenes are cringey and the actors themselves even look bored. Towards the end, I felt more towards the bad guys than the leads and sometimes skipped their scenes together.
Verdict: not worth watching even for a huge Lusi fan...
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2-Storyline/Plot : Unlike other historicals, this drama had a lot of interesting turns that kept me wanting more. Beside the normal elements you find in historicals, this drama had a theme that's not very common in that era containing a lot of events with romance, laughter, action and even mysteries and most of all it wasn't slow in a any way.
3-Acting/Cast : It couldn't be any better even though Yoo Chun was never a good actor, I still enjoyed the acting here.
Moreover, I liked "The ravishing quartet"; they were amazing especially Song Joong Ki, I loved how he portrayed Goo Yong Ha's role with all his sneaky ways. When he winks: *insert shallow feelings* ! Other roles were really interesting in many ways.
4-Music : The music was great; it was smooth to listen to it.
5-Rewatch value : Yes it's rewatchable, I can guarantee that people who like rewatching will do it over and over.
6-The ending : It was cool especially the last scene (perverted thoughts)
Anyway, I loved how they showed the characters progress at the end: it was satisfying.
7-My impression : I was having a great time while watching this drama, I had no problems with events since I was hooked ever since the third episode0.
This drama was the main reason that removed my dislike for historical dramas.
8-Overall : Don't be fooled by the historical background because this drama is way too different from any historical that you've seen before.
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I was glued to this series immediately. This one was just too fantastical; lots of motion and commotion right from the beginning of the series to the end. I liked the flow of events, and it didn’t feel like anything in particular was dragging on. I can imagine people thinking differently, and you’re entitled to your opinion, but this series to me is just like winning the lottery in drama heaven (and I will detail why). At the risk of gushing about this romcom, I will attempt to keep a review compact. From my point of view, IOTL is a brilliant piece of work, from script writing to directing, acting and music; I just loved it, and I will attempt to convince anyone to give this drama a try because it certainly doesn’t disappoint.
STORY:
Tragic. Hilarious. Endearing. One of a kind. Honestly, I cannot begin to put into words how versatile this story is. What I can say is that is it multifaceted. In those moments, the story becomes an enriching journey for the audience into the lives of those living their day to day life with an impact from mental illness or working within the field of mental health. What I enjoyed the most about this story is that it wasn’t a solely medical drama that pathologized its patients. This series exposed, explored, and discussed the often stigmatization of patients with mental illness. There were lived experiences and individuality in this story, and it made the series wholesome, often challenging social norms. I found myself more connected to it within the “meat” of the story because the characters are involved in the main premise, which is dealing with/coping with/understanding/healing from emotional/psychological pains. Within this drama, the romance and comedy are embedded in ways that the story manages to progress between leads by conveying serious social issues with a serene and genuine feel for caring about those in your life.
CHARACTERS:
Jang Jae Yeol: What a charismatic, multidimensional one. It does help that Jo In Sung gave an award winning performance consistently. But Jae Yeol, as a character, is complex: you love him some moments; question him in others, worry about him, and viscerally his own conflicting emotions with the relationship to his family, in particular, the complicated relationship he has with his brother. The hostility, and painfully evident wounds of his past of violence is something that makes Jae Yeol a person that evokes major ethos on the audience’s minds. I do think Jae Yeol’s unraveling and mysterious past (as it unveils) makes one feel, as Hae Soo would, a part of his world. Sharing a piece of his identity, and understanding how mental health and violence have impacted him; and how the two are linked and unfortunate.
Ji Hae Soo: IOTL had me at Gong Hyo Jin. I am her bias, and the reason why I watched IOTL was because 1) it was her first drama after the Master’s Sun; one of my favourite drama’s, and 2) because GHJ is arguably one of the most talented actresses in South Korea (and I would personally argue from my perspective, much deserving of global recognition). That being said, if you seen her in other drama’s, regardless of your feelings towards her, one of the reasons that drew me to the story line was because her work involves picking series that matter, that have meaning and controversy, or at least from what I know about GHJ is the ingenuity of the role. She, as far as I’m concerned, I knew this was going to be amazing before it started because she only involves herself in projects that are insightful, eye opening, and unique. Hae Soo was such a delight on screen, and GHJ was cast perfectly for this role. She was bright, independent, and not easily swayed by stereotypical male lead romancing. She has a good head on her shoulders, and given the fact that she’s flawed in this series, just like everyone else, I felt like she was quite a humane person.
The secondary characters were in no way “secondary” to this series because they were wonderfully emotionally and psychological a part of this series, and contained a lot of depth. Ohh the feels for these characters, overall just… amazing. A memorable, unforgettable cast. I can’t deny this the reason what makes this series so special, and it’s because everyone has their own story to tell. Each and every actor playing their role fit it perfectly.
SOUND/OST: It had a charming flare to it; the opening jazzy but fun opening; it made the series feel fun and intuitive. The music in the series, especially the “I don’t wanna be a hero” themed song really tied into the metaphoric element into the series. Overall, the music was conveyed well by the ocean of emotions in this series. Indefinitely, it’s heart wrenching. I do think the OST reflects the overall feel and mood of the characters, and I respect the fact that the series wasn’t overwhelmed by music; it was a nice addition to it.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: It’s just such a story that is so open minded to the point where you feel welcomed into the story. You’re invited into these people’s lives which are far from being perfect, but that’s what makes it worthwhile. This drama offers such a refreshing feel to it in the sense that the plot development is often quirky and fun, yet it can be serious and heart breaking. All the same, I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys great script writing. Because what you get in IOTL is the whole package. Well articulated thoughts and ideas, and the strong sentimentality behind the screen of what we view socially and culturally as mental health, which I think is truly important. Aside from the gorgeous camera work; the skinship in this series and romance just oozed appeal. Fireworks and screen chemistry galore between the two main leads; it was, dare I say, sometimes just too sexy (if that’s even possible), yet also very beautiful in others. Needless to say, the leads connection was not only convincing but it was definitely heated. I loved that this series has characters close and engaged with one another; there were many life lessons to learn and understand from the simplistic ways in which the world spins. In particular, how easy it is to judge as much as it is easy to accept, how much courage it takes to love or try to love, and how much will one forgive a person or the world for such pains they/it cause you. Therein lies the ability and question of forgiveness, and forgiving yourself and others. Yes, you don't want to miss this one folks!
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When Romance Wins the Race
This miniseries is very good. The twists, turns and chemistry between the leads were enjoyable. The SML was comic relief in so many ways. This type of story has been seen before. However, the ML and FL were strong in delivering non-verbal cues, romantic tension and keeping the overall vibe of the storyline. The OST fit the narrative well and didn't overshadow scenes. I have seen the male lead in a few major roles. He should have more. He is definitely one to watch. The overall production was solid. This is a ROMCOM MINI that is worth the watch,Was this review helpful to you?
Story itself is very touching. It made me think about troubles which appear when you're different and how hard is to accept someone who is not like you. It is very easy to say but so hard to do. To try to understand another person and not to blame, not to hate. And characters in this drama have come such a long way, every one of them and it was so amazig watching their change. And I'm not sure that I' m strong enough like Do Han or Yoon Suh. And this is why this drama is so special. It makes me think, it makes me emrace the world as it is and to see beauty in it. Furthermore there were a lot of touching supporting roles.
As for acting. It was INCREDIBLE! First of all Park Shi On. I don't have words to describe how good he was. He was just perfect. He played so well that there wasn't even a thought that he is normal human being like all of us. It seemed that he was a special caring soul. I'm just so grateful that he was serious about this role. But other actors were also magnificent. All of them wew such a great team. I loved the complexity of characters, their richness.
Although this drama may seem a little boring and slow. But because of the fact that it shows human relationships and human nature it is right. It is a very good example how to make a very good drama. Watch it. I'm sure you won't regret it, because you can find something that you'll like. Such good doctors in a such good drama.
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A sweet slow burn romance between an older woman and younger man
The Rational Life is easy and enjoyable to watch, but is probably catered towards a more mature audience since it tackles subjects like what it's like being a career driven single woman in her thirties, family struggles and office politics. Even though the subjects might sound heavy the drama overall feels very light.The female lead Shen Ruo Xin is a very ambitious, intelligent and capable woman in her thirties. She knows what she wants in life and never stops working towards her goals. When she meets the male lead Qi Xiao he takes out other sides in her and around him she feels comfortable to just be herself. Together they face a lot of struggles and growth at work, but also in their private lives.
They create a very strong bond early on, but it takes time for their relationship to develop further. Even though the main characters has an age difference of 12 years in the drama their romance doesn't feel awkward or forced thanks to the actor's amazing performances. Since the drama is a bit longer the slow burn romance and pacing actually suits it. My biggest complaint would be that it lacks passion so by the time they do start dating it isn't as satisfying as one might wish.
I've seen a lot of people call this drama realistic, but I don't agree with that. While it is inspirational with such a strong female lead it also annoys me that so many dramas either make their female lead clumsy and naive or they make her overly rational, capable and smart to the point of perfection.
I long for a capable career driven female lead that is great at her job but without feeling like she can't do anything wrong, always knows the right thing to say and do in every single situation, always has the best suggestions and ideas. I'm tired of it always being one extreme or the other. You can be a strong empowered smart woman that's great at your job without it being potrayed in such an unrealistic way.
Exaggerations, extremes and stereotypes in dramas are okay, but I think that in a drama that almost feels like a Slice of Life that tackles real issues in society the character's should feel more human and real. Other than that I do like her character a lot and she's one of the most enjoyable parts of the show.
Shen Ruo Xin's mom is very controlling and overbearing, but I don't mind that since it's actually something that many people go through with their parents. What I do mind though is that a lot of her reactions felt very unnatural. Her character felt very inconsistent and some scenes almost felt like theatrics rather than acting. I thought that the family aspect of the drama was nice and created a great balance with the work and romance related ones, so the inconsistency in the mother's behaviour threw me off sometimes.
All in all this is a very sweet drama, one of the better age gap dramas out there in my opinion. I even enjoyed the work place related plotlines which says a lot.
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Favourite of 2024!
The Judge From Hell not only lived up to my expectations but clearly surpassed it. I absolutely loved Park ShinHye as Kang Bitna. Even when they show her personality transformation, it is actually believable. Contrast that to the human Kang Bitna who died in episode 1 and how differently she was portrayed. You can see a real difference between the two personalities. That was just one of the beauties of this show.The other aspect I loved is the punishments dealt by Bitna. The concept was simple yet ingenious. The CGI are beautiful. And if you love strong female characters as much as I do, you will especially love this one. It would have been so easy to mess this up because of some of the twists in the series and especially with the ending. But the series maintained it's strength and doubled down on it's portrayal of Kang Bitna as the judge from hell. Strength doesn't always have to mean physical. It can also come from within and that's what we get in those moments.
Han DaOn was also a nice character. A bit too nice and emotional to be a cop yet you want to root for him even when he is opposed to Bitna. He certainly doesn't take the attention away from her. Bitna is the shining star and the show never loses its focus! Credit to the writers and directors on that.
There are quite a few secondary characters that are enjoyable and the true villain was not easy to guess as there were many inaccurate theories by fans. That also made it more enjoyable guessing what the true nature of people was.
The only other supernatural justice plot I can think of is the Thai drama Girl From Nowhere which is more gruesome and serious. In contrast, The Judge From Hell keeps a balance between the seriousness of the cases and the punishments being entertaining due to the way they are recreated. Besides that TJFH has lighter moments and comedy that makes it a fun watch versus GFN is heavy. I loved both shows and there are aspects that are comparable so I would definitely recommend both.
The OST Boomerang, Crossroad and Gehenna are worth listening to.
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Psychopatic Male Cinderella
To sum up:Not as good as the promo materials, but might be the best xianxia out there.
The trailer doesn't really do justice as it barely shows the beautiful cinematography.
Fast paced.
It's the best xianxia in terms of cinematography, visual effects, and acting.
Tantai Jin was not a typical xianxia's demon lord. In the early stage, he's more of a psycho in a xianxia setting. It's not easy to bring this character to life as he had no precedence in c-drama world. This is not a straightforward "love melt the demon lord's heart" trope as ML had a problem to function like normal human. It's a difficult character and cannot be compared with other xianxia ML.
In fact the closest character to Tantai Jin is not in c-drama land, but Hannibal from the tv series. Not saying Luo Yunxi's acting is Mads Mikkelsen level, but there are many similarity in the way the show managed to make the audience nervous on whether or not the main character was sincere or just faking it. This is the most terrifying thing about these characters and this c-drama managed to present this element to certain extent.
In Hannibal interview, Mikkelsen said Hannibal was Lucifer in human suit. Luo Yunxi actually pulled similar things in the early stage of the drama. There's something uncanny about Tantai Jin that you know he was not really human. Luo Yunxi was acting a character that was acting as human and there bound to be some flaws in the act. This flaws need to be brought on screen and this is not easy since they are not natural to the human actor. This demands a lot of restrains and layered performance.
An example of this is eps. 8. You wondered whether Tantai Jin was sad or not. His eyes showed a hint of sadness, but the expression was not really sad. Luo Yunxi must have put a lot of restrain during this scene. Other times, it was the opposite. The expression didn't reach the eyes.
The acting was pretty subtle. That's why when Tantai Jin showed his manic sides such as eps. 4, it's really memorable.
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If the drama never had Son Seok Koo...
These days I tend to hear words like toxic, red flags etc on the internet a lot to which I anticipate if were made in a drama it would be this. Its easy to criticize sitting at home behind a screen where in real world the production team works so hard for, so I tried to empathize with the efforts of the people involved while speaking up. But the level of annoyance I had watching this made me compel to come up with a negative review. The major reason for show's popularity in my opinion was the actor SSK charms (and I am not unharmed btw for if he looks into the screen and I die blushing; hot would be an understatement for this man ) So here I am taking off my SSK lens and asking viewers to take the story as what it is.The good parts for me was the quality of direction and dialogues (whatever little it had). The silences around the characters were beautiful. The one who stood out the most was Change Hee. By no means he was any different or dare I say likeable to any extent. It was the depth of Chang Hee which was portrayed through his monologues which touched me. He knew life was not what he wanted and he exactly knew why. It takes so much of strength to admit your own shortcomings and blame no one but oneself for it. Given the choice to betray the family and live life on his own terms he would still be there doing his part for the family. He was this kind of a person and the actor suited him well. Such kind of complex character could have been done by a veteran only and respect of Lee Min Ki skills.
Coming to the sisters, one who thought being in love was her only purpose and another who complained how her parents did nothing for her yet when a man who never spoke a word to her bought her all the happiness she ever lacked. Seriously what?! If the main motive of the story was to address the superficiality and taken it as issue, I would have been up for it. However what it did was to romanticize this which really got on my nerves. Even towards the end Mi Jung and Ki Jung never admitted how mean they were to their parents who btw sacrificed so much for their kids and got nothing. The actors were good but the script lacked I guess.
I am choosing to remain silent for Mr Gu's character, period.
There was a concept of the Liberation club which was unique and intriguing, more became a club of people coming together, crying they have an issue (which btw the viewers were already aware before the formation of the club) and then nothing. What do you expect me to do? Empathize with random bunch of persons crying ?
Anyway if you want a good slice of life drama, there are way better ones out there. The very core of this drama was bs for me and would never recommend it in my sanity.
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