Reviews

a

"Lovely Runner"** è una serie televisiva sudcoreana del **2024** che ha come protagonisti **Byeon Woo-seok** e **Kim Hye-yoon**¹. La trama ruota attorno a **Im Sol** (interpretata da **Kim Hye Yoon**), una ragazza di **19 anni**, nota per la sua bellezza e i suoi sogni ad occhi aperti. La sua vita prende una brutta piega quando subisce un grave incidente, lasciandola paralizzata. Miracolosamente, Im Sol viaggia indietro nel tempo di **15 anni**, ritrovandosi nel **2008**, quando Ryu Sun Jae (interpretato da **Byun Woo Seok**) è ancora uno studente delle superiori di **19 anni**. La sua missione diventa quella di cambiare il futuro di Sun Jae e, forse, trovare l'amore lungo il percorso. La serie esplora il tema del destino e dell'amore che sfida il tempo³. Solleverà i tuoi sentimenti e ti terrà incollato allo schermo! ??

Read More

Rival secret agents with sizzling chemistry

This is the fourth mini drama directed by Zeng Qing Jie that I watched and I enjoyed it immensely.

What I like
1. Romance - Wow, Yang Ze and Smile Hu's chemistry translated well on screen. It's evident whenever they were kissing, having a playful banter or expressing their feelings for the other.
2. Yang Ze's acting - I've watched him in Destined to Meet You and I must say I love him in this role so much more because Yan Wu Ming is a better written character. Yang Ze played this character with depth and vulnerability. I like that he is a secret agent but with a kind/boyish face.
3. Smile Hu's acting - brilliantly cast. She looks tall and athletic therefore believable as a secret agent/assasin but with grace and poise. She also demonstrated vulnerability quite well.
4. Costumes - Lord Yan and Xiao Nian wore beautiful clothes. I love Lord Yan's black work outfit, tailored robe in final episodes, Xiao Nian's red work outfit and pink robe. The fox mask is also pretty.
5. Writing - Male and female main characters were well-written. I like the inject of humour at the start though at times seem too much (I think because of the music).
6. Directing - Beautifully shot especially fight sequences.
7. Duration and length - Perfect for bingeing.

What I dislike
1. Villain - I think the villain character was underdeveloped.

Favourite scene
The duel between Yan Wu Ming and Si Xiao Nian. Beautifully choreographed fighting scene that was perfectly captured on screen.

Read More

Mi Jin is on the verge of reaching thirty but has yet to crack her dream civil service job. In the process, she gets scammed and bumps into Prosecutor Gyu, who is harboring a dark secret in his sleeve.

Review

What is the benefit of working so hard?

This is the question Mi-Jin asks herself when she fails the civil service examination again. In her last ten years, she did nothing other than study for it. But all she got in return was to hear that she is in her thirties now, without any experience, so getting a job is difficult. Her best friend Chon Hui is her only confidante. Her never-ending plight takes an unprecedented turn when she finds herself in the body of a fifty-year-old woman every morning and only returns to her true self at night. In between a serial killer is on the loose.

Helmed by Strong Girl Bong Soon director Lee Hyung Min, the story is a perfect blend of romantic comedy with a big dose of horror. Mi Jin is strong and has an effervescent attitude. Even in the darkest hour of her life, she chose to live. This is where director Lee plays his cards. He never makes the story monotonous and cold. In the process of looking for the serial killer, Prosecutor Gyu and Mi Jin form a bond and even find solace in each other. The journey of love is not cliche but resonates with the life of this genre. The mother of Mi Jin resembles Bong Soon- she wants to see her daughter settled and is unaware of her true condition. They are sweet but self-centric. A supportive yet spineless father and an unannounced second lead in the form of idol Jo Won make the tale intricate and intriguing.

Reply 1997 girl Eun Ji is brilliant as the night girl Mi Jin. Her banter with her friend, feeling attracted to the charming prosecutor - the girl brings out all effortlessly as always. Lee Jin Eun as fifty-year-old Lim Sun- the alternate identity of Mi Jin is the twist of the tale. The woman who mostly dons the character of a helpless mother has brought out the invisible kitty from her bag. Her enactment of the twenty-eight-year-old in body of fifty is hilarious and melancholic. Jin Hyuk as prosecutor Gye is remarkable. The man is one of the versatile actors in the Korean drama case. He knows what he is doing. He is effortlessly hot and equally cold - which is needed for this dark role. The supporting cast adds humor mostly, but Byung Hee Ajushhi is the cherry on top.

Conclusion

Korean drama directors always do brilliant in bringing out supernatural stories. This Miss Day and Night is no different again. A fantasy element packed in delving into solving a cold crime case is not just magnificent but more than that.

Read More

One of the Best Xianxia in 2024

At first I was hesitant to watch the drama since it has 39 episodes and I don't have the patience to watch the drama and was planning to watch it if I had the patience to watch and I just wanted to watch the intro. But when I heard it, the music struck into my mind and I love listening to it. So after weeks I just watch it and finished it today. It was absolute perfect, the fl didn't give a cringe and childlike behavior that I usually saw to some xianxia dramas that I rarely find. The ml also not the cold hearted jerk that we usually saw to ml characters, their personalities gives refreshing vibes which I rarely saw to other xianxia dramas. The fl is strong as well as the ml. The drama gives fantasy, romance and comedy. The comedy really brought me up to this drama as well their love. How I felt bad to both lovers especially xingzhi as he holds a big responsibility. The cgi and music is top tier. Their background music just gives. Highly Recommend Xianxia drama.

Read More

Younu Senki

In the Name of the Brother is a butterfly struggling to break free from the grounded life of a caterpillar. It failed. But, oh, what coulda been!

It’s 1944, and Nippon’s teikoku is on its last legs. Ah la Gramsci, the Japanese Order was dying and a new world struggling to be born. We meet Gan Xue and the Song brothers as the remnants of the Japanese Kwantung army, Manchuko patriots, Guomindang agents and Communists struggle for power in an age of monsters. One-third of the story is an undifferentiated mess of assassinations, kidnappings and torture.

The third of the story about the Song brothers — Communist Agents Extraordinary — was the weakest and most frustrating part due to excessive plot armour except when the writers decided to scapegoat Gan Xue as the show’s villain. A particularly egregious intervention by the ghost in the machine in Episode 25 was so terrible that I spent minutes after the credits hysterically laughing. That said, Qin Hao elevated the role, as expected, and the tech they used to achieve the twinning effect was. . . impressive. I still do not understand what other purpose making the secondary protagonists twins had besides trying to make Gan Xue the villain! But that’s why I don’t make the big bucks.

Luckily Gan Xue saves the day. Best girl is stylish, not the smartest but competent. Most importantly for the world she inhabits, she is tenacious and ruthless. The subplot of what is an otherwise straightforward tragic arc is that her life was shaped by the many betrayals by all the men in her life. She yearned for family but lost it all in the end, fated to end her days in gaol.
It’s annoying that the writers gave what were very likeable characters an ending more bitter than all that gall Goujian ate to remember to delete Wu from history. They really tried to portray fleeing to Japan with a pretty girl and a bag of gold as the wrong idea! Then dared to end with literal flag-waving scenes. Nah, bro. Some people deserve the Jin Yi Wei.
So, I’m torn. How does one rate a bad story with great characters?

Oh well. At least the soundtrack was superb, and the casting was superb except for one notable exception. Alas, this was one of those directors in love with auteur shooting styles. The man was going for metaphors and unreliable narrator techniques. Too much, chief. Too much!

Read More

Blossoms in Adversity

Hu Yi Tian & Zhang Jing Yi… That’s interesting… Let’s watch.,,,

Story about one girl, Hua Zhi (HZ), that’s quite different from another woman of her time. She’s independent, smart & not so feminine. That’s because from a young age, her grandfather already spoiled her by taking her to many places & teaching her many things that women at that time usually did not learn nor know.

Now at her young adult age (around age 15-20 if I’m not mistaken), she’s betrothed & ready to get married. But one sudden incident regarding the Emperor & HZ’s grandpa made Hua’s family must be stripped from all their positions & their family wealth also confiscated. All the male in the family are sent to the far north for forced labor, but due to HZ’s grandma relationship with Empress Dowager, the women get spared & just need to move from the house. And with all that, the Hua’s family journey & hardship began.

HZ is one amazing woman, although she’s young, she's one capable woman. She’s led all the women in her family to go through hardship with her smart brain, creativity & the braveness to try something new. At first except her grandma, no one trusts her & underestimates her young age, but with time she’s proven herself worthy of her grandma's trust & lead the family from the hardship & poor life.

In this hard life, HZ & her family find true friends & family, the one that’s still willing to stay by their side, friends & servant, that’s not abandoning nor fooling their family. HZ also found comfort in one particular gentleman, Gu Yan Xi (YX), one man that at first we don’t know good or bad (due to his relationship & loyalty to the emperor), but over time proved himself that he really meant well for HZ & Hua family.

Ok. That's about the story… Now what I like & don’t like.

What I like:
+ The chemistry between Hu Yi Tian & Zhang Jing Yi is good. Although not fiery, but I can see them as a couple
HZ & YX relationship. How they build their relationship & trust toward each other.
+ The family that’s built from the hardship. How every woman in Hua’s family finds their place within the family. Really funny when the men come back to their life & find the women (wife) are changing.
+ The cute Shao Yao (SY) & Shen Huan (SH). Although we can see there’s something wrong with SY, She's one smart & loyal woman. I really like how SH never underestimates nor condescends SY. I really like the moment when SY finally realizes her feelings for SH.
+ Not everything runs smoothly for the Hua family. They are several times hit by setbacks & trouble, but the writer or the director do not try to hide it or erase it totally. Of course if we cut several unimportant incidents, maybe the episode can be shorter.

What I don’t like:
- The stupid separation. Oh that’s one stupid separation between YX & HZ. I know how hard the emperor tried to separate them. But for HZ to come to that conclusion is stupid & she kinda acknowledges it when she wants to get back to YX.
- The crazy emperor. Oh he’s one crazy emperor that wants all YX’s loyalty only lies to him. Several time I want to shake YX to wake up or just to kill the emperor himself.

Overall this really one good drama to watch

Read More

A series that really shows the psychological side of humans .

The series opens with a dark story, immediately showing how a betrayal of a loved one and we are shown how the villain character is completely crazy and very psychopathic, a very charismatic villain character and I really like it. At first we see this main female character, like a weak woman but during the second episode we see her smart and brave FL figure, with a new identity, she returns to the capital to take revenge and seek justice. One of the strengths of this series is how we see deep dialog and very shown the human psychiatric side, the audience immediately feels how each character feels in this series, the acting of the actors and actresses in this series is extraordinary. The portion of romantic scenes between FL and ML is not much, but even though it's a little, we can see the chemistry between FL and ML is very harmonious, we see slowly the development of their relationship, the gaze between FL and ML, is very full of millions of meanings, just by looking into the eyes of the two of them we as viewers already feel their romantic relationship. This series has a good storyline to follow, good acting to watch, this series is one of the best Chinese colossal series in 2024, although at the end of the end of the episode there are some shortcomings but still makes this series worth recommending to be the best series in 2024.

Read More

Less than Middling

I really do like Yim and Tutor as actors and their commitment to their parts, but the direction of the show and the characters leaves much to be desired. Jade's over the top cartoonish over reactions to everything needs to be taken down at least 5 notches. It's grating more than cute, which is disappointing since Yim has the natural cute look. Everything just drags and drags until the only development nearly towards the end where Jade rejects Mai because of his insecurity from being dumped by his first boyfriend. Mai rightfully puts some distance between the two, but the show doesn't do anything with it. The only result is Jade finally sorts out his feelings for Mai without showing any change in any significant way. Mai's family is very lovely though and models loving supportive family behavior. While Jade is a whole cartoon caricature, Mai is really flat as a character as well, just moony eyes and willing to enable Jade's every whim without anything else to his personality. The supporting couples have their petty misunderstanding plots. The intimate scenes are somehow both try hard and directionless secondhand cringe, but a step less cringey than Bed Friends with the lowest bar. This director is capable of filming competent intimate scenes, I don't know why he massively fluctuates in his direction of both those particular scenes and the overall series in every project. There is no consistency.

Read More

A refreshing rom com costume drama that is soothing to watch !

FYH is a delightful Chinese romcom that captivates from start. Set against the backdrop of bustling Tang dynasty, the series weaves a charming tale of love, mystery, ambition & pursuit of dreams.

The storyline is refreshingly engaging, filled with heartfelt moments & witty humor that keep viewers eagerly anticipating each episode. The chemistry between the lead characters is palpable, adding a layer of authenticity to their evolving relationship.

Overall, FYH is a gem of a drama that delivers on all fronts - engaging plot, stellar performances, beautiful cinematography and soundtrack.

Read More

Be Your Own Prince Charming & Follow Your Joy!

Cinderella tropes are nothing new but what sets this drama apart is the depiction of the known characters in a different light.

Our FL Cinderella from the start is proclaiming herself as a sort of gold-digger, the Prince Charming ML is distrustful for those who proclaim love to him assuming they are in for his money - and this drama is a journey on how they both realize that what they are looking for is something within themselves and each other. Supporting them strongly are roles of the step-mother & sisters, who are not mean like in the fairytale but have their own way of supporting their Cinderella sister. The villains are funny more than evil. the SML momentarily seems mysterious only to become a catalyst in Cinderella's journey to find her calling.

Best Parts:
> The acting of the ML is worth investing time in this drama. He can be childish, rich spoiled brat but when need be he can be the most manly charming male lead that can make men/women around him swoon. And boy can fight!
> The entire retelling: seeing the age old story in a new light was a fresh perspective; the good have some flaws and the evil are not truly evil. Something that sets well in modern times, and the message of the drama is strong and apt: "Follow Your Joy" and be your own Prince Charming i.e. you yourself are the ones who can make/break your happily ever after.
> The illustrations in the start, background narration, comedic effects and cross over from Taxi Driver was a cherry on top that sweetened the deal.
> Short, well paced drama of 10 episodes

Weakness:
> Personal Opinion: The latter half of the drama did not arrest or hold my attention. I even watched some parts by fast forwarding. I was invested to finish the drama and know what happens in the end, but these parts could have been done better.
> The villains were there just for comedic effect - their actions in order to break the main couple as needed in a kdrama, was lacking. Again two ways to see it: it did not frustrate me but then it made me question what was their role? It felt half-baked to some extent

Overall:
Watch it cause of its short, well paced retelling of the Cinderella trope and for ML, Lee Jun Young's acting.

Read More

Roller coaster ride

Yes it was a roller coaster ride. It was boring, frustrating, interesting, good, frustrating and wtf in just 5 episodes. Can I just say how annoyed I have always been with kurumi’s character and how Hibiki kept chasing after her, killing everyone who followed him in the process indirectly. (Yes people died for their love story, good characters, just so kurumi could be reunited or rescued). Didn’t realise Asuha was another frustrating character they added so we don’t miss kurumi.

There were moments that made this so good. And instead of keeping it good and interesting they ended the season in the most frustrating way with such dumb writing and literally useless deaths which could have been avoided had charters been given a chance to actually think.

Kimi seka really kills off people in the most useless way. Maybe trying to follow the Game of Thrones example of characters die, but not in such dumb annoying ways when there was no gain from it. Or I think in zombie verse of Kimi seka people die pretty easily for dumbest reasoning lead characters could think of.

Good to see some familiar faces from earlier season but even their appearance didn’t save the show.

So yea overall it just became a killing frenzy once again, but this time it was this close to being a really good season.
Yea I need to go eat some thing good to get rid of this frustration I am feeling after watching the ending.

P.s. if I were to make a poll who would be more annoying, kurumi or Asuha.

Read More

Not Like Your Typical Thriller KDrama

If I'm being honest, I watched this without knowing anything besides the fact that Wi Ha Joon was in it. Bro, go watch it. It's so good and the story, characters, and production is very inspiring. The cast is perfect, the story is perfect. The ending is also really impactful, and you can take in a lot from this drama. I can't even describe how I felt after watching it. Usually after finishing a drama, I would want there to be more in the story. But the ending felt empty but complete, not in a bad way. The actors made me feel some type of way, especially Wi Ha Joon. The story his character had and how he interprets Jung Ki Chul is the best. (Also, very attractive). But anyways, 10/10 for sure and totally recommend because the story isn't basic, and the writing is far from bad.

Read More