Secret Campus was actually pretty realistic. It had the guts to tackle real, actual issues that teens face on a daily basis. I could relate to a lot of the issues because when I was their age, I went through many of the same things. Most school dramas are watered down and focus more on romance and drama. While Secret Campus did water down some of the more serious issues, the fact is, it actually *did* confront them, watered down or not. Besides telling the story of a group of high school friends and the pressures of getting good grades, it also dealt with bullying, grief, suicide and homosexuality. Each character had a story to tell, a problem to face and an outcome to take responsibility for. While some of the issues were less serious (such as the crushes on the teachers), it was showing that every issue was important to the person who was going through it.
The teen actors did an ok job playing the characters. Most never went on to do much else, but two did end up being mega stars. Park Bo Young was absolutely adorable here, though she was probably the weakest acting of the bunch. Keep in mind that she was very young and that it was her debut drama, so that's to be expected. Lee Min Ho's charisma makes him stand out, showing that even in the earliest days of his career, he had that special something. Even with the 2000's hairstyle and some acne, he was easily the most handsome of the guys. Seol Sung Min was really good and it's such a shame that he hasn't done anything since 2007. I was really impressed with his acting and would like to see him now. The same goes for Seung Hyun, who played the deceased Seung Jae in flashbacks. Unfortunately, he too hasn't done much else since.
I would definitely recommend this drama to anyone who is looking for a realistic Korean school drama. Just make sure you can deal with the outdated hairstyles! Also, one thing of note that really made it more realistic. All the teens actually look like teens in this. Real teens, too. There are no plastic faces and perfectly applied make up. Like I said above, you can even see Lee Min Ho's acne. I find this a major plus for the drama, but others might not.
All in all, I rated this drama 8/10.
Was this review helpful to you?
If you want a romantic movie this is not it
After reading the plot I thought it was very weird and interesting. Because it is a movie and not a whole drama, I thought I should give it a try. I read the comments, so I was a little prepared.First of all, it was a little weird and awkward movie indeed. I mean, a stranger comes to your grandma's house and claims to be her student, but he also has a key from the house and you take him in although he is just a stanger to you? Many things could go wrong starting this way. Fortunately, they didn't. He wasn't a pervert or murderer.
Also, right from the start, he stayed in a different part of the house which was good and safer for the female lead, but he was behaving like the man of the house. They ate together the food she cooked, he gave her his laundry and he asked her to do things for him like a husband would do. He also stated many times that he would marry her, without her permission or acceptance. I don't find it very romantic...
Their relationship was nonexistant from the start to almost the end. Emotions were not expressed through words from the start to almost the end. If you have imagination you could guess that some actions in the second half of the movie were because of affection or love or just care. For the most part they were not even talking to each other.
This was such a quiet movie, filled with silence, which didn't help me understand what was happening. If I use my imagination I can understand that this was a quiet love, but I think it was almost mute. They didn't properly show affection to each other. The age gap between them was huge, but I wouldn't mind it so much if I saw the romance between them. It was like he came to the house and became possesive. Suddenly he wants to marry her and the viewer doesn't know how or why.In the end the care or romance between them starts to show a little.
I would say that this movie is about a love story from the past, when love was not expressed very much. It was a very introverted love. I still am not sure about female lead's feelings. I felt that she was just lonely and disappointed from love, but although she waited for male lead to come back at the end, I am not sure if it was because of her love for him or because she was left alone.
I don't think the movie is bad, but I definitely think that I don't like so slow and silent romantic movies that barely have any romantic gestures and by the end of it I am not sure if I saw a romantic movie. I don't like the very romantic, cheesy and unrealistic ones either but this was not even enough.
Was this review helpful to you?
Candle in the Tomb: The Wrath of Time
10 people found this review helpful
This review may contain spoilers
Must Watch - Indiana Jones meets Game of Thrones in Republican Era China
I was told The Lost Caverns is an archaeological drama, and after doing some research Candle In the Tomb : The Wrath of Time is the first in the series, chronologically, so I started watching it with zero expectations, and was instantly hooked. I was surprised at how good the sets, scenery, production, action and acting were. The sets and scenery, in particular, are breath-taking. The death toll has to be seen to be believed.This show pretty much has everything entertainment wise:-
* History of 4 "Tomb Robbing" Clans in the Opening Credits
* Each clan's specialty - geomancy, traps, lock picking, animal affinity
* Super Expensive Sets for the Tombs. They look realistic!
* Traps. Lots of Traps! All Kinds! Poor Stunt Guys must have worked HARD.
* Dangerous bug critters. Numerous small ones and one Giant One. * Special "mythical" animals including "Super Chicken Phoenix" and Dig Dug Pangolins
* Zombies and a Zombie King
* Excessive dynamite use, including in "suicide vests" (not in a terrorist way).
* Michael Bay level of indiscriminate blowing up stuff before using brains and considering maybe don't blow up stuff before getting your own people out first?
* Brotherhood, followed by Game of Thrones level Betrayals, Backstabbing and lots of Death ... and viewers rooting for some people to die because we're bloodthirsty by nature, we hate them and we want them dead like mob spectators.
What I learned from the characters:-
* Handsome ML (*swoon* Vengo as Zhe Gu Shao) with skills and a tragic backstory, will eventually, slowly and surely, win over Xin Zhi Lei (Hua Ling) who is supposed to be the fierce man hater.
* Chen Yu Lou (Pan Yue Ming) acted brilliantly as the Xieling Sect leader who's trying to do the best he can for his men and his "people", yet nothing is good enough for his daddy until loads of blood has been shed.
* Luo Lao Wai (Cao Wei Yu) wow I HATED his character and was actively hoping this paragon of creating a hostile work environment and #1 sexual harasser would die so I could stop hearing his "laugh acting". Except, when he did ... I felt kind of sad.
* I won't name the other characters because it was like Game of Thrones, as SOON as I got attached to them, BAM out of nowhere, they die!! If this were a Korean drama they might have mysteriously survived but no, those types of wounds should be fatal, and the realism is appreciated.
Moral of the story: Tomb raiding is lucrative, BUT dangerous as all heck. Over 200 people must have died to the traps, the critters, the wildlife, the curse(s), the undead and the backstabbing humans infected by the deadly selfishness "treasure fever" who lose all sense of conscience and think killing other humans means a bigger share. Personally I don't think it's worth it, and maybe the high risk is WHY those tomb robbing clans are going extinct.
Was this review helpful to you?
perfect execution
As much as the story isn't anything new, the way it is acted and presented stands out. Drama is short, cute and fluffy, but also has steamy moments when you feel like a peeping tom.Female lead is supposed to be cute and honestly the actresses nailed it. Her portrayal of a sweet cunning lady is very likeable and natural. Male lead is also good at his part, and makes it work. They both have good chemistry and are pleasure to watch.
I liked the slice of life feel this drama has, and the pace was very good too. It's just 7 episodes with smaller arcs in each one. Shorter episodes but they are all packed with plot developements and don't have much filler.
This drama is a very good example of how you can tell a stale cliched sorry in a way it still feels fresh like a can of sparking water.
Was this review helpful to you?
I feel very sad its only 16 episodes. Wishing were longer. Btw i become borderline shipper of Seung Gi x So Min too lol.. cos theyre lovely together. He always help her too...
Was this review helpful to you?
Even though it was made almost 9 years ago, I had to take off some points for some serious loopholes in the story. It seemed like, after the first 30-40 minutes, the story was just dropped. They had went from not liking each other to suddenly using cute nicknames so fast that you could get whiplash. There was never a hint of them liking each other, so it just felt off. Once I got over it though, it wasn't too bad.
The first half hour or so was definitely the best part of this movie though. I had to keep pausing because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't even hear what they were saying.
Acting/Cast: I'm already a big fan of both Kim Jae Won and Ha Ji Won, and while this didn't really make me feel better or worse about my like of Kim Jae Won (although seeing that body was a nice surprise), my love for Ha Ji Won definitely grew.
Even though Ha Ji Won was 25/26 when she filmed this (which I still can't believe while watching the movie), she pulled off her role as a teenager flawlessly.
Kim Jae Won was amazing in his role of self-absorbed rich boy.
I personally think they meshed well when on screen. The love-hate relationship they had going on was believable.
Music: I enjoyed the music throughout the movie.
Rewatch Value: Like I said, there were some things that just didn't make sense to me throughout the movie, so it's not something I'd want to give another try. At least not for a while.
Overall: It had its ups and it had its down. The chemistry between the leads made up for a lot of the downs. The beginning and ending also made up for the downs.
Was this review helpful to you?
Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de
10 people found this review helpful
Life is Baseball
As the proverbial phrase goes, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade out of them. Or in baseball terminology, when life throws a curveball at you, hit it right out of the park.Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de revolves around a mysterious ex-pro baseball player, Ito Tomohiro, who hangs out at a local batting centre helping a variety of female customers deal with their life problems using what he calls Baseball Theory. He is able to discern their predicaments by observing the way they bat and has an uncanny ability of psychologically projecting their psyche into an utterly immersive fantasy world - a baseball stadium where he draws upon his experience in baseball competitions and strategies to deal with their respective problems.
Central to this premise is 17-year old Natsuha Mai, a part-timer at the batting centre and who happens to have her own troubled past. Joining Tomohiro’s efforts in helping these customers enables her to eventually exorcise her own demons.
Running at 30 minutes each, this 9-episode medium-budget production features slice-of-life themes presented in an episodic format that involve the workplace, family and relationship dynamics. Although the themes are not explored with profound depth, as expected of a short series, the storytelling of each story arc is rather engaging and still manages to tug at the heartstrings, particularly in the final episode.
The leads are decently portrayed by Sekimizu Nagisa and Nakamura Toru, as Mai and Tomohiro respectively. A Japanese baseball legend makes a cameo appearance during each episode, along with the multitude of guest stars. The catchy and upbeat J-rock intro and outro themes are performed by CreepHyp, namely Shoumona and Konnani Kanashiinoni Hara ga Naru.
All in all, Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de is a well-produced quality short format series which I would categorise as a lighthearted healing drama. The baseball terminology isn’t too challenging to comprehend, provided you have good quality subs, while the life lessons conveyed are contemplative rather than outright didactic. A wholesome viewing experience indeed.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Corporation lab rats
The synopsis is too simple, the drama isn't complicated or nitty gritty as I initially thought. After watching squid game and alice in borederland, the fight for money seems like a fantasy death matchBut in reality we all live in a twisted trap, work.
This drama used their metaphors and connected 5 different people in a really well thought out web of connections.
Character A has an intersection with Character B, Character C has an intersection with Character B, but he also meets A, D and E..
It seems complex but it was so smooth. Also it's so short yet so full of content, honestly one of the best scripts of 2022
The metaphor does revolve around money. People need it, people get inslaved by it, people hate it but people need it
As an interior designer actually it's literally like 1ep, we draw, delete, draw, calculate, delete, given weird tasks like break tiles, glue fabric, and 90% of the time it's the mood of the team leader
I wanted to be a designer cuz I love creating, I love art and I didn't want to be stuck in a cubicle. But in the end we're all lab rats of corporation.
The 2nd ep uses the metaphor of games, does life give you a 2nd chance?
I also adored the little fashion queens♡ ep5 didn't feel connected until you get to ep6 and it becomes the bow that wrapped the story together perfectly
The revelations of the last ep were my favorite, it was shocking, it made sense, it was sad and it was really well acted
Tbh I wished for more, most of the stories felt uncompeleted and eventhough the stories were like a spark of the real meaning I became attached to the characters
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A Mixed Bag of Humor and Flawed Execution
"Reunited Worlds" attempts to blend fantasy and romance in a compelling narrative about Sung Hae Sung, who mysteriously returns twelve years after his death, seemingly unchanged. While the premise has potential, the execution leaves much to be desired.There were several flaws in this drama. For example, the fact that none of the siblings showed the emotion of surprise. Your brother just came back from the dead, and everyone just accepted it like it was an everyday occurrence. And what especially bothered me was the absolute lack of chemistry between the main leads. I still don't get how they cast Lee Yeonhee for the role of older Jungwon when she looks NOTHING like the younger version. I also felt the drama was trying way too hard to make older Jungwon quirky and cute but failed majorly. Having a 30-year-old act clumsy like she's 13 only made me cringe and skip countless scenes.
In the later episodes, the drama does improve a little. However, even then, there are flaws. For instance, how do you expect me to believe that Taehun's dad changed overnight and apologized, even though he swore not to do that? We could've called that 'character development' IF the drama had dedicated time to the dad's changing views. Tell us why he changed. How did his heart get moved? Instead, so much time was wasted with unnecessary side plots, and the dad's change happened abruptly. That was so out of character and seemed like it was written by somebody who doesn't know a thing about proper character arcs.
Despite its many flaws, I gave "Reunited Worlds" 5.5 stars because it genuinely made me laugh with its quirky moments and absurd situations. The unexpected humor, especially in the interactions between characters, brought a lightness to the narrative that kept me entertained. Even when the plot felt uneven, those funny instances provided a delightful escape and made the experience enjoyable. For anyone who appreciates a good laugh amidst the drama, this show definitely delivers!
Overall, "Reunited Worlds" has moments of charm and emotional depth, but the inconsistencies in character development, casting choices, and pacing detract significantly from its potential. It’s a decent watch for die-hard fans of the genre, especially if you enjoy the occasional laugh at awkward moments, but it fails to leave a lasting impression.
Was this review helpful to you?
Rewatching this drama (and especially the last episode) countless times helped me through a really tough time and kept me motivated to fight and not just give up.
At first I wasn't even sure, if I would make it to the second episode, because the first one is kind of slow. I also thought Wataru was a total jerk and I didn't like him one bit. I'm more than happy I stuck with it though, because this is a beautiful drama about friendship, how even idiots can turn out to be awesome people and how you can achieve even seemingly impossible things, if you're willing to work hard and fight for them.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Good drama! Soooo romantic, so many kiss scenes so much love! But i want the second male lead and the first female lead to do a drama! I have terrible second lead syndrom with this drama! I really would like them together:) With the same kinds of kiss scenes and all! This review pertains to both seasons. Its a good drama its so cute and light ive been watching so many darker dramas like legend of fuyao, seige in fog, legend of qin, the empress of china, and etc that i needed something light to watch! Was this review helpful to you?
Why is this not a series?????
A short story that you’d wish to be a series…It’s only 14 minutes but it felt like 3 hours long~ in a short period of time, it made me love their characters and their story already.
There are no kissing or intimate scenes, but the way they look at each other, and treat each other, the place, setting, and music — makes it SO ROMANTIC. This is such a perfect example that not having those kind of stereotype scenes could still make a drama beautiful.
I’d love to see the both of them work in another project again one day. Be it a sequel for this, or a totally new drama series this time.
They got big potential to top the dramas we have to this date. There’s really something about their chemistry.
Was this review helpful to you?
The true meaning of what's more than blue
If you knew life was going to end this way, would you choose to start it?As long as K & Cream could find each other, they would. A love can be so deep that you would sacrifice your happiness for theirs behind a smile. I now understand the meaning behind the title. K & Cream's story is already sad, but if it wasn't told to the world, that would be even sadder.
And this is where the series starts.
The story revolves around our main leads K & Cream, but it's accompanied by 2 subplots that seamlessly and beautifully connect together. Two heartbroken lovers, a photographer and a dentist, and a music director and his assistant. The subplots don't tell much as I describe them now, but throughout the story they expressed their share of love in their own way.
The two broken souls find each other and become each other's family, filling in the empty holes of their lives. To Cream, K became many figures to her: a friend, a brother, a father, a mother, and a lover. The story was so raw with emotions that I felt myself loving and fearing and crying with them.
I previously watched the movie before this, an all-time favorite I remember crying so hard in. I wasn't disappointed at all at how the writers filled in the many gaps to make a series. The series has true storytelling--we're watching the scenes that took place in the past. Specifically, the story is told in the words of our main lead K, but viewed in the eyes of everyone else. We get a feeling that we know how it ends, but that doesn't take away from the story. Watching this series became a journey of how K & Cream came to love so deeply and why their ending turned to be that way.
I knew how it was going to end, yet it still hit me in my heart and I cried more than I expected. I always thought "More than Blue" had a second meaning besides a story sadder than sad. Perhaps beyond this sadness, there was still a happy ending behind it--one filled with no regrets and a heart finally at ease. I want to praise the actors who did an amazing job portraying those emotions so well. And I love how the OSTs captured both their sadness and love, they're really beyond beautiful.
What makes this story so special no matter how many times it's told is that it hits close to our hearts. It reminds and teaches the listeners not to take time for granted.
Even if you knew how things would end, choose to love.
Was this review helpful to you?
Replay: The Moment When It Starts Again
10 people found this review helpful
To wrap up, this drama is perfect to relax and not think of anything deep, also if you can bear even the slightest of cheesiness it offers. It was an okay watch for me. (PS: I started this drama because I am a fan of (G)I-dle, cheering for Cho Miyeon's acting career!)
Was this review helpful to you?
Maybe I Need Romance Too...
So another review has already mentioned that the story/plot is nothing new.And to be honest there was nothing amazing about the characters or acting.
But there is something about New's dazzling smile and the cute little side stories that made me really enjoy this drama.
Rewatch value high-ish only to see all those cute New scenes again hahahahahaha
It's been a while since I watched something so quickly (I ended up finishing it in like 9 hours because I skipped a lot of P'Kan moments whoops), and it's also been a while since I had so many "awwww" reactions and moments.
I have to say, I really appreciated that even the "antagonist" characters had human elements and you could often empathise with their choices- that was a really nice touch, because it makes you critical about how you feel about the FL's choices (and other more "positive" characters!), too.
If you're a softie for cute lil romance, or in doubt whether your heart has frozen over like Najai's: then this is just what you need!
Was this review helpful to you?
