Reviews

Romcom de respeito!

Um romcom que é sincero, sem trama de encontro na infância, sem plot de alguém querendo assassinar os protas, sem triângulo amoroso ridículo (ela e o vice presidente foi algo do passado que foi deixado bem claro), o casal namora conversando, sem dramas de mal-entendidos absurdos, e vemos eles experimentando a vida a dois, porque a protagonista tem um trauma familiar, querendo ir devagar com o casamento. Isso é o amor na vida adulta!
Até a secundária apesar da traição dela, era uma personagem muito legal! Gostei de deixarem em aberto a questão dela e do vice presidente.

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Such a frustrating watch!

Such a frustrating watch! It really didn't need need 16 episodes. It started out so promising with the single helper with a thriving business. I feel like literally any other direction would have been better than the romance of Sang-eun and the judge. I tried so hard to like that guy but he was sooo hard to like. Their conversations were so flat and drawn out.
Hae-jin was a much better match in so many ways. They had easy chemistry, he was emotionally open and he was devoted to her. He was even a great boss. It would have been so dope if she has chosen him and they'd been a power couple who does what they want despite the conglomerate constraints - or whatever.
With the judge I felt like she was carrying that whole relationship on her back. She had to teach him how to function as a partner and even at work. I was so confused when she started talking about how the judge was too good for her. Like gal, what do you mean? I also really disliked how his character was supposed to be stoic but he kept making all these weird impulse decisions. Like saying I want to see you right now - at late hours of the night. Chugging alcohol that he can't handle etc. How he'd revert to being a mean boss when things weren't going well with Sang-eun. Then she even proposed! She was really doing too much.

Yoo Madam was my favorite, in my opinion, the best written character. She was so complex. And the actress did an amazing job of bringing out the character. I kept wondering, is she the mom or not? I was so delighted when she was.
I also liked all his workmates with their colorful characters. As well as his superior's wife. They were all so fun. It balanced out the fact that he was grumpy at work and created a difficult working environment. His ex-wife was cool too.
I was also excited to see the LGBTQ representation! It would have been nice to see him liking people and dating them, and just more about his life. I loved the bestie dynamic with him and Sang-eun. I did like the fact that he stayed to be a top star and didn't go to Canada.

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Haunting, emotionally devastating and cathartic. Beautiful love story ❤️

This is basically a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story. It has action, humour, suspense and an intense romance. Jisoo and JHI meshed so well together and had incredible chemistry. It is a slow burn romance with soft sweet subtle interactions. There are only a few simple touches and comforting romantic hugs between them, but I felt their deep connection and all their scenes gave me butterflies. I couldn't stop smiling and was giddy with excitement whenever they came together onscreen. Unfortunately theirs was a story of unfulfilled love and you could feel their longing and anguish to be together at every moment.

I fell sooo hard for Lee Soo Ho. JHI's portrayal as the dark brooding conflicted spy just hits differently compared to his other roles. He was totally swoon-worthy in this and his physique suited this type of role. Snowdrop so far is probably my favourite of his dramas. He has a natural effortless charm about him and his acting was mind-blowing. JHI is a master of micro-expressions. He relies on only the tiniest, most subtle movements of his eyes and facial muscles to convey his emotions - pure genius! Jisoo has a unique innocence and brings a special warmth to her character. She perfectly captured the essence of a teenager falling in love at first sight, who is full of hope, optimism, radiance, raw vulnerability, awkwardness and then as the drama shifts tone to high stakes her character's tone changes to serious and complex showing emotional volatility and immense sorrow due to the dangers, betrayals and the risk of losing loved ones, but despite all the hardships her spirit remained unbroken. Jisoo was cast perfectly for this role.

This drama was poignantly beautiful and tragic at the same time. Under different situations and circumstances this couple would have fallen deeply in love and lived their happiest lives together. Nevertheless Snowdrop was perfectly executed

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Breaking Free and Learning to Love Again

I really loved the male lead's mentality in this drama. Despite loving the female lead deeply and wanting to be by her side all the time, he never tries to make her dependent on him. Instead, he encourages her to be strong, independent, and capable of standing on her own. Even though he wants to keep her close, he also wants her to have the freedom and confidence to choose her own path. That kind of love was refreshing to watch.

The leads looked amazing together and had great chemistry. The male lead perfectly captured the role of a man who is completely devoted to the woman he loves. He was warm, respectful, caring, and absolutely head over heels for her. Every gesture, every look, and every moment of support felt genuine.

The story itself has quite a lot going on. The female lead starts off as a strong woman who has been worn down by life and trapped in a toxic marriage. Instead of supporting her, her husband slowly isolated her, controlled her, and made her feel worthless while benefiting from her wealth and status. Watching that relationship fall apart was frustrating but also necessary.

What I appreciated most was that once she decided to leave, she didn't spend forever dwelling on the past. She chose herself, walked away from the toxicity, and started rebuilding her life. The male lead became a source of support, but he never overshadowed her growth. He helped her find her confidence again rather than trying to save her.

The romance develops quickly, but the chemistry between the leads makes it work. More than anything, this drama feels like a story about healing, self-worth, and finding someone who loves you without trying to control you. And honestly, watching the female lead leave a toxic marriage and find happiness again was incredibly satisfying.

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Basic k-drama love story for when you’re bored

The beginning of the show was really good and it captivated me from the get-go! This is my first time seeing Chae Wonbin in a main lead romance role, and she did really well. I enjoyed her acting and her visuals a lot. When it comes to Ahn Hyoseop, he sort of keeps getting type casted a lot. None of his roles seem to differentiate…what’s so funny about this show is that he basically played the business proposal’s characters twin almost. They were so extremely similar from being ceo to being ‘cold’, ‘nonchalant’ and uninterested in dating until he meets a silly goofy girl who makes him want to care and falls for her. You get the jist right? Its pretty basic lol.

What I liked about this show is the relationships we see outside of the main couple, I really liked the side characters and they kept things entertaining. Somewhere in the middle of the show things got a bit boring and it felt like it was getting quite dragged out but it was never to a point where it was painful to watch (cough cough like dynamite kiss). It was pretty funny and it had its emotional moments that made me tear up.

But truly, the one thing I liked the most about this show was the last episode. They did the ending so well! I swear kdramas nowadays (when it comes to romcoms) always rush their endings and leave major plotholes lingering despite having so much screentime they could’ve used to fill those gaps in but instead focused on the most boring plots. I really really loved how every character took accountability for their actions and patched all of their relationships up. I love how Dam Yejin acknowledged how much she neglected her father and apologised to him, we rarely see a main character do this to people they do wrong just because they were in pain! I loved to see it! I loved seeing her fix her relationship with her parents in the end, and the second lead wasn’t lead on and he took the rejection like a champ, it didn’t even feel like there was a competition but just a silly misunderstanding between everyone. It was nice how everything was finally summed up in the end.

It was a pretty good show, I’ll be honest the only reason why my rating bumped up to 8 is because I liked the ending so much. Kdramas genuinely miss on their endings every damn time but this was really nice to watch. I felt happy finishing this show! However I do believe it would be more fun to watch this with someone since some episodes do get a bit boring..👀

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Deeper Than Expected

I saw the trailer. We all probably did. It’s probably what brought you here. And yes, this drama does start off in that vein: toxic, deeply unhealthy, and raunchy as hell. That’s just to hook you though. It might start with smutty melodrama, but it turns into a pretty classic star-crossed love story. It’s very romantic, the cast manages to be pretty solid, and the quality of production is way better than you’d expect of a mini-drama in the vertical format.

If you want the absolutely outrageous implausibility we normally get from the verticals this might not work for you, but if you want an on-the-go vertical that brings a bit more classic K-drama style to your BL table, this will definitely suit.

Please note I’ve rated this with the general standard of vertical dramas in mind, so, yes, it’s an eight-plus by those standards, but it’s not an eight in the full length, landscape format sense.

The casting is well done, the costumes are obviously made of modern materials, but are well-made. The budget always shows when there’s a gat in the offing. There’s not a single horse hair in one of them, and I doubt there’s any bamboo either. Nylon and wire all the way.

Anyway, that’s smart use of budget. They used the money where it was needed, and it ensures a polished product. It’s the best vertical I’ve seen, once they get past the bait (sexy bits), and move into the actual story. The sexy bits definitely feel like choreographed and rehearsed shenanigans, rather than practised erotica. it’s far too techical to be organic or improvised by gay men who know the drill, pun intended. I doubt many MLM hookups go down the way these guys go at it. It just doesn’t look that fun. it’s very elegant though, and carefully conceals the undoubted presence of underwear 😏

Anyway, you can watch this in the Lezhin Snack app. It cost me around $NZ12 (USD7), and I don’t feel ripped off, so that shows how extraordinary it is for a vertical. Enjoy, or don’t. It’s up to you.

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Good series but disappointing in some themes

I love watching historical series and this was no exception. It explains the evolution of big trading firms in Japan, how it started and the stiff competition involving corruption and deception.

However i was disappointed with Iki as a father figure and a husband to his loyal wife Yoshiko. Having been apart for 11 years and coming back to a bitter and resentful son towards his father. Only to end his wife’s life in sadness I’m not sure whether she was ever happy with her life only to take care of the kids and the absence of her husband due to the war and work. And there’s the third wheel, daughter of his commander who committed suicide when pushed into a corner by the Russians as a war prisoner. Must he take care of her just cos his commander killed himself? How is it that he has to take responsibility of caring for his commander’s family? At the expense of his own family? They did not show any closeness between him and his children especially his son who balked him for the death of his mother.

I would rather them just show the family relationship instead of introducing a third wheel which i think doesn’t give any weight to the series except for attempt to have a juicy romance between him and the third wheel after his wife’s death and they failed to show any remorse by Iki after all the sacrifices the family made for him.

Other than this the historical portion about business and especially depicting the shogo shosha was worth watching.

p/s I skipped most of the scenes between Iki and the third wheel which I find distasteful. Or maybe they try to show how Japanese men are like when they get too immersed in work.

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Watched this thinking it's just all fun and laughter but ended up crying a few times

This is my first time to write a review here on MyDramaList just because I loved this show so much!! 🥹

As a big fan of YooLee (Yoo Jaesuk & Lee Kwangsoo ~ l've watched every show they did together), I already knew I'd like this show! They are always fun to watch and they truly are my fave people on variety shows. I missed this tandem so much so I was really looking forward to this. I knew this would be chaotic and funny but I didn't think I'd cry watching this but I did... lots of times even! HAHA you have to see for yourself!! There were no dull moments for me so I finished this really quick!

The casts/staff have great chemistry here! I'm so glad to see Wooseok being comfortable with YooLee (I wasn't expecting it tbh 😆) and I already liked Yeeun from Running Man. I knew she sees Kwangsoo as her role model so I'm happy for her that she got to work with Kwangsoo on a variety show. Well done with the casting - though I did wish there was an actual cook between them cause I knew they would be struggling if not (I also felt bad cause they had no time to rest, they were just so busy~ Even I felt tired just by watching them 😭) but they still did so well!! I am so happy to see Hyori & Sangsoon as well!!

But what made this show truly special were the guests!! They are all amazing and lovely people, the team behind this did really well in choosing them. Love the concept where they don't reveal their jobs at the start and they're just simply being themselves, goofing around and having fun together! I almost felt like I was together with them during their stay in the B&B cause I also felt sad when it's nearing the time they need to leave. I also cried with them whenever they did :(( I'm currently re-watching it and it's more exciting now that I'm more familiar with them.

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“Bento Harassment” è un film del 2019 che racconta il rapporto tra una madre single e Futaba, la figlia adolescente. Quest’ultima, in piena crisi adolescenziale, non parla più con la madre Kaori, neppure per salutarla. Per dare una scossa a questo rapporto e riuscire nuovamente a comunicare con la figlia, Kaori crea una punizione molto particolare: preparare dei bento con messaggi e disegni unici! Esagerati, buffi, ma soprattutto imbarazzanti, questi pasti accompagneranno la figlia nei suoi anni di scuola superiore, trasformando l’ora del pranzo in una vera e propria attrazione per tutta la classe che, insieme a Futaba, ogni giorno sarà curiosa di scoprire quale messaggio subliminale Kaori ha nascosto nel bento della figlia.

Il film scorre leggero grazie a un buon equilibrio tra umorismo tipicamente giapponese e delicatezza nel raccontare il complicato rapporto fra madre e figlia. Come cornice a questa storia di famiglia possiamo riconoscere l’isola di Hachiojima che, nonostante faccia parte di Tokyo, non fa sentire i protagonisti come cittadini della metropoli.

Tutti i personaggi sono piacevoli e ben caratterizzati, anche quelli secondari.
Il focus della storia si concentra sulla difficoltà dei genitori single e sul grande impegno necessario per riuscire a mantenere un dialogo con i figli.

Dopo una prima parte di film particolarmente frizzante, il ritmo rallenta nella seconda metà: abbiamo una parte un po’ più lenta e a tratti melodrammatica, in cui la madre quasi si annienta e sacrifica se stessa per la felicità della figlia; un tema più vicino e radicato alla cultura giapponese rispetto alla nostra, e che forse può risultare eccessivo per lo spettatore occidentale. Forse un minutaggio ridotto e un equilibrio maggiore tra la prima e la seconda metà del film avrebbe giovato alla visione, ma “Bento Harassment” resta comunque una pellicola che strappa un sorriso grazie alla spontaneità e alla tenerezza con cui è raccontata questa famiglia.

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“No Longer Heroine” è l’adattamento del manga giunto in Italia con il titolo “Sogno d’amore” ed è uno di quei casi in cui il live‑action supera l’originale cartaceo: le modifiche riportate, per ovvi motivi di tempistiche, hanno alleggerito la storia, lasciando intatta la colonna portante della trama, ma rendendola più piacevole e scorrevole.
La protagonista è Hatori, una ragazza che è cresciuta con la convinzione di essere la “protagonista” della propria vita e, come ogni “eroina” che si rispetti, ha sempre creduto che fosse destinata a vivere la storia d’amore perfetta con il suo amico d’infanzia Rita. Tuttavia, la vita non va sempre come ci si aspetta e Rita si fidanza con un’altra ragazza. Ed è qui che entra in gioco anche un altro ragazzo, Kosuke.

Nonostante la storia sembri il classico triangolo amoroso tipico dei manga shoujo, “No Longer Heroine” ha qualcosa che affascina lo spettatore e lo tiene incollato allo schermo.
Uno dei motivi si può ritrovare nei personaggi stessi: sia Hatori che Rita sono ben lontani dall’essere i protagonisti perfetti tipici delle commedie romantiche, rivelandosi molto realistici. In fin dei conti sono solo ragazzi insicuri che si stanno affacciando all’età adulta.

La delusione amorosa di Hatori la porterà ad avere un’inevitabile crescita personale. Quest’ultima non ci viene presentata in modo drammatico, ma con la leggerezza e l’umorismo che caratterizzano la ragazza fin dai primi minuti del film.
Durante la visione è presente un forte equilibrio fra scene comiche e momenti di introspezione, oltre a una grande cura della fotografia nelle scene romantiche (forse oggi sarebbe considerata un po’ mediocre, ma ricordiamoci che il film ha ben dieci anni alle spalle). Il triangolo amoroso, inoltre, è gestito così bene che lo spettatore non sa proprio se tifare per Rita o per il second lead.

Il cast è decisamente straordinario: i protagonisti sono interpretati da Mirei Kiritani, Kento Yamazaki e Kentaro Sakaguchi che, nonostante all’epoca del film fossero giovanissimi, dimostrano fin da subito di essere dei grandi talenti.
La ciliegina sulla torta è rappresentata dalla frizzante colonna sonora cantata da Kana Nishino.

“No Longer Heroine”, in conclusione, diverte e fa riflettere: forse, per essere l’“eroina” della propria vita, non serve che sia tutto perfettamente come lo immaginavamo.

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Tre ladruncoli improvvisati, dopo un furto, decidono di nascondersi in un vecchio negozio abbandonato. Durante la notte, viene recapitata una lettera, indirizzata all’emporio "Namiya", con una richiesta di aiuto. Infatti, il vecchio proprietario era solito dispensare consigli di vita tramite delle lettere. I tre ragazzi ne leggono il contenuto e decidono di rispondere. In questo scambio epistolare, i giovani capiscono che in quella notte sta avvenendo un miracolo: le lettere, che giungono sempre più numerose, vengono dal passato, e quando loro rispondono, e le imbucano nella cassetta del latte che funge da cassetta postale, tornano nell’anno da cui giungono.
Un intreccio di storie, tra passato e presente che cambierà il destino non solo dei mittenti delle lettere, ma anche dei giovani tre, che ascoltando gli altri e dispensando loro consigli, capiranno qual è la giusta strada da percorrere.

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