Reviews

Affinity : 3/18/2026 ~ 3/20/2026

First I would like to say that this show is all over the place. Usually that would mean that it’s bad but like it weirdly works for this show. There were a lot of wtf moments but I guess it all makes sense by the end. I also do feel there was a lot of redemption arcs which I’m a sucker for so I really liked that. I also liked that while there was redemption consequences were still faced. Next the romance was next level, like the chemistry between all couples was 10/10 even the slight tensions between the ones who didn’t like each other. I also gotta say this I was what lead to me sobbing my eyes out by the last few episodes. Overall really weird show but I absolutely love and will be recommending to as a many people as possible.

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A cute and fluffy romance with e-sports background noise

At its core, this show is pretty much just a fluffy romance. The setting chosen for it to play out is a high-performing e-sports team, which recruits apparently the first female player ever in the industry.

Tong Yao, to her credit, takes her job seriously and knows what she represents. I always find it fun to see a strong female character defy stereotypes and take on a male-dominated field. It’s fun to watch her relationship with her team and love interest grow, as they go through victories and setbacks together. It’s not too overdone or sappy either, just cute.

I do feel the show gets a little worse after the two of them get together, a little over halfway in. The ML kind of turns into a total sap for her, and it made me like and respect him less; I feel people should care about things beyond their latest relationship infatuation. I’m also not that interested in seeing various examples of how much he likes her. (Also, who goes straight from sobbing uncontrollably to making out?)

A lot of the conflicts that the characters deal with come from the glow of celebrity, and I enjoyed seeing the “lives of celebrities” from the back like this. We may all know intellectually that being a celebrity is not actually that much fun, but it’s a good reminder to see that fame and glory come with a price.

The show also has some great side characters, such as the other members of the team. I was disappointed by the amount of development they got, though. For example, K gets one story arc devoted to him and it lasts less than an episode. It’s too bad that the side characters are given lovable personalities and just enough development to make you care, then get ignored for long blocks at a time. There are also two very cute cats, and I also wish we saw them more.

My favorite part of this show might be seeing the e-sports in action. I didn’t know much about this field before, so I was really interested to see how the system works. The game they’re playing seems similar to League of Legends. Although the show received criticism from Chinese viewers for inaccurate portrayals of the e-sport world (namely not taking it seriously enough), as somebody who didn’t know anything about it before, I still enjoyed this bit of exposure and getting an idea of what it’s about.

But e-sports and its culture, celebrity life, and lovable side characters aside, for better or worse the main focus of the show seems to be the two leads and their relationship. I’m not a huge romance buff and while I enjoyed watching their push and pull as they get together, I started to get a little sick of their romance after awhile.

The acting is ok. Chen Xiao as Tong Yao doesn’t have many expressions, but it might just be her character. I was legit horrified by her nails, though. She is a professional gamer- sure, she can push keys with such long nails (they even show it!) but I can’t imagine it’s doing her any favors. If you are going to show a profession, you should take it seriously.

As for the other production, this was the first Cdrama I watched as an adult, so I was a bit thrown off by the face filters and the dubbing. Her mom with the smooth face was kind of creepy. I might be less horrified if I watched it again now.

There are also some animated sequences acting out the game they’re playing. I think these serve a purpose in conveying the passage of time spent playing the game, in a way that feels action-packed and exciting. But in and of themselves the scenes are hard to follow and don’t contribute to the story.

Overall, this is a cute little romance with a fun setting. Not everything is perfect, but it’s a light watch that generally leaves you feeling good.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending is alright. They win the championships, and although there isn’t really any view of their lives after this, it’s not hard to imagine that they just keep on doing their thing. I wasn’t exactly satisfied, but it’s not too bad; I feel the show isn’t set up to need a grand tie-up or closure since it’s more slice-of-life.

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Promissor, mas desequilibrado

Last Samurai Standing confirma, logo de saída, aquilo que já se espera de uma produção japonesa desse porte: excelência técnica. Ambientação, fotografia, cenografia e figurino trabalham em perfeita harmonia, criando um universo visualmente rico e consistente. A direção e o modelo de filmagem reforçam essa qualidade, com uma edição precisa que valoriza tanto a ação quanto os momentos de contemplação. Nesse aspecto, o drama é irretocável. O problema surge no centro da narrativa. O protagonista, que deveria carregar o peso de um passado sanguinário e temível, carece de carisma e presença. Falta aura. Há uma desconexão entre a proposta do personagem e a entrega do ator, agravada por uma diferença de idade pouco convincente em relação aos demais samurais e parceiros de treino, o que compromete a credibilidade em cena.

Curiosamente, são os vilões que sustentam o interesse dramático. Há consistência na construção de cada antagonista, com destaque para a figura quase caricatural, mas eficaz, do líder que evoca um “Mini Napoleão Bonaparte”, carregando a arrogância e a obsessão necessárias para conduzir o projeto de extermínio dos samurais. É um conjunto de personagens mais vibrante do que o próprio herói, o que desloca o eixo emocional da série. Ainda assim, a temporada cumpre seu papel de instigar continuidade. A vontade de seguir não vem pelo protagonista, mas pelo enredo e pelo universo que se mostra promissor. É um drama tecnicamente impecável, narrativamente interessante, mas que ainda precisa encontrar um centro mais forte para sustentar plenamente seu impacto.

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​Nota: 10/10 — Recomendo 100%!

Meu Deus, fazia tempo que eu não me emocionava tanto com um K-drama. Chorei muito no último episódio, que conseguiu ser incrivelmente triste e satisfatório ao mesmo tempo. Como eu amava a Seo Gil-geum, com certeza a melhor amizade de todas. Vou sentir muita falta da rotina de assistir dois episódios por dia.
​Foi simplesmente maravilhoso. E o que dizer da química entre os protagonistas? Sério, é impossível não amar esses dois. Confesso que fiquei um pouco cansado nos episódios 7, 8 e 9 com toda aquela parte do "Master Chef Joseon" haha, mas o restante compensa demais. Nota máxima com certeza!

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This is a romance, not an action series....

so its a bit sad that i raised my expectations half way through. This show made a valiant effort at trying to make a detective drama, but the mystery element just fell flat for me. I watched this thinking of so many ways this show could've been better, but the whole time this series was playing it safe, and not really saying anything. Sure, its nice to see chemistry between the two main leads, but towards the last episode this series lost its momentum and i was just waiting for it to be over. There's also things in this series that don't make sense in the drama, so they can't translate appropriately into a real-life situation. I don't recommend this drama, but if you wanna sit through this, be my guest.

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Leaving a bad taste, in a less poetic sense

When I firsted started watching this drama I didn't really have any high hopes of what to come, and I wasn't wrong. This kdrama instead of telling a refreshing story about the victims of suicide, it felt more as if I was watching those highschool stop suicide PSAs. The main three reasons that got me to this thought was from the overall storytelling, character motives, and actions that these characters partake in.

STORYLINE:
The main gist of the story is our main character Choi joon-woong after encountering two grim reapers koo Ryeon and Lim Ryung Gu, joon-woong trying to stop a suicide, he ends up in a coma, which causes him to become half human and half spirit, which leads our main character joon-woong to join the grim reapers in their work of helping individuals with suicide and the prevention of those suicides. The storyline itself is mostly feels repetitive, the same things happen just in different situations, first our main characters will go out to help a suffering individual, second they will be stuck on how to help them, third they will only have a few minutes let till the person goes through with their suicide, last the main characters will somehow find a way to talk them out of it and cure their depression completely; and the last sequence is what I have with this kdrama, it diminishes the real feelings of these depressed characters and the storylines creates that after one talk with someone who suffered for so long can just "get over their depression with a few minutes of words of encouragement, which doesn't bring any actual satisfaction to the storylines that just have been created, they build up these storylines of these characters just to complete it in one or two episodes from not even major actions in the character life but a motivational speech given by the main characters that hold no substance to the suffering individuals life outside from that one scene. The plot of the show doesn't draw actual realistic conclusions but idealized version of a conclusion that doesn't give the characters any way out of the miserable situation that they are in. An example that comes to mind is the first and second episode, this episode is meant to build the story and how it will progress through out the season. We see the first victim and the build up to how she got where she is. but instead of seeing a story about how she was properly helped our main character just give her a speech and tells her she really doesn't want to die; and it works somehow, all the years of psychological torture that was brought upon this victim from her bully just goes away. the PTSD and the depression just vanished. seen by the decreasing of the percentage of her likelyness to commit suicide, the only Good thing that is given to the victim is that her bully is found out to be a bad person. It doesn't satisfy the actual story that was just built up and the bullying shown to have caused the victim her issues felt less important and more of something that could just be cured from a simple laugh and a wanting to live.

CHARACTER MOTIVES:
The second issue that arise is the motives of the characters not only in the suicidal individuals but our main character himself. We are first introduced to our main character as a guy looking for a job and struggling to fit into the job market, and when he ends up in the coma, his motive are shown from him wanting to wake up and be with his family once more, but after those few scenes, we barely get a glimpse of these motives that where once introduced, our main character feels more like a side character in his own story. Koo Ryoan our female lead feels more intriguing then our actual main character. Joon-woong is supposed to be in his late 20s but acts like a child most of the time, never expressing his motives, but rather whining and complaining about situations rather then trying to figure them out. The only character motive that is fully brought to the front are Koo Ryeon and park jung gil(escort grim reaper) while the writers of this story fleshed these two out, I geuse they forgot to flesh other characters out as well in the process. Back to the suicidal individuals, as soon as a new character is brought into the for-front of the story to be saved they are given these back stories that serve a purpose to their motives on why they don't want to live, and those back stories work but after those back stories we don't actually see the perspectives of these individuals, nor rather how these motives have affected their relationships throughout the story, the kdrama mentions often how the suicides of other affects the living to but we don't see these suicide characters lives, their wanting, nor motive from a deeper sense, ever is very surface level, nothing is deeper then it seems, episode 3 prove that point when looking at the best friend of joon-woong who is planning on killing himself, rather from see a his perspective from a deeper lense or why his motive for killing himself have gotten this deep we see a back in time episode focusing on one event of the characters live rather then the affects that the coma has done to the best friend nor why this is his last straw at life. The main struggle the best friend faced when wanting to get into school and dealing with his sudden loss of his best friend is cleared from eating fried chicken, and that wouldn't be a problem if the story didn't add the decreasing of the likelyness to dies because that fried chicken didn't solve his problems nor did it should a conclusion in the motives on why the Best friend wanted to kill himself. That episode didn't even draw back to joon-woong own character development nor showed a growth in the main characters motives to wake up.

CHARACTER ACTIONS:
lastly one of the major issues I had with this kdrama was the development of character rather the lack there of. Joon-woong at the end of each job never grew as a person nor had any change in his ideas, he felt constant, he would learn something one episode but the next episode do something the contradicted what growth he had. One major that comes to mind when looking at development, and not only development but all three ideas mentioned in the story, is Sin Ye Na, who was the suicidal individuals suffering with an eating disorder in episodes 7-8 when where first introduced to her she seems happy and content untill the story starts to focus on her and what she truly is going through, her motives and actions come to the for-front of the story but when it comes time to actually deal with it...we see scenes of her feelings and those scenes escalates to her attempt which ends with our main character she barely knows doing the exact thing she hated which was judge her on her appearance, and then he does another speech he's been doing through out the entire story that convinces this victim that she should love her self. Even saying this annoys me . The fact stands that the story tries to run with this and shows how the character is struggling but from on person telling her she's just good the way she is it stops her eating disorder immediately. No progress is made. Nothing was actually addressed we learn about her having an eating disorder and it's fixed right after. The story builds it up to be this extremely prevalent thing in the suicidal individuals life that she can't stop and it has been engraved in her since highschool but as soon as we are learned about it, the author wrap the story up. It frustrating to see this because this story is supposed to be this inspiring story about mental health and the trials and tribulations that someone has to get to take their lives and how that can be prevented, but it doesn't do that is uses these mental illness rather the the main focus, a backdrop on a dramatize story to get the audience entertained. As this drama tries to spread a message about the mental health, it bring old stereotypes into pace , such as mental health could be stoped if people really tried hard enough, this drama felt like a cop out. It didn't bring in thing into conversation , it sometimes made these characters look like they didn't want out of their situations rather then people who where stuck in their situations. This drama could have worked but it didn't they add these big ideas but never went anywhere with them nor did they try to address to actually issues that mental health had.

This drama on its own is the kind of drama you have to close your brain and watch, the acting wasn't the best, I don't know if it wasn't from directing but the actors themselves but it just didn't feel like anything in the story was actually being taken seriously....well at the end of the day the kdramas out and these are just my opinions.

(Sorry for grammar mistake and run on sentences, I just be writing stuff as soon as they come to mind )

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IDK what the story was even about, really...

So... this show was very bland... which is why I gave it a neutral 5 stars.

Let's start with the good things: the acting was great, the set designs and camera works and colors and wardrobe were also very good. But that's basically all that I liked about the series.

Now the bad things: my main gripe with the series is how slow and empty it felt. It took about 11 episodes for anything to happen in the plot, and even after that, when some conflicts started happening, the story still moved in slow motion, and every scene felt incredibly dragged out, at some point I even started watching in 2x speed. I was determined to finish the series because I had seen some good reviews about it and I was waiting for Something™ to happen, but I was sadly disappointed.

The next thing I want to talk about, which relates to the previous point, is how so many storylines and characters were so poorly explored. Princess Patt's backstory was shown once and then forgotten, Pin's parents and their deaths only exited for convenience (to explain why Pin lived at the palace, and to give Anin an opportunity to comfort her when she got scared), Keua's everything, Prince Anan's actual lover, the girl that sexually assaulted Anin, and probably some more. No plotline was truly explored to its full potential, and all the characters felt like empty shells, even Anin and Pin.

Lastly, I also felt that the historical context of the show wasn't well incorporated into the story, it felt more like a costume that the series wore, and the historical and political aspects could have been shown and explained a lot better. The series did make me curious enough, though, to do some light research about LGBTQ history in the UK and in Thailand, and in that time period the UK was only just starting to legalize homosexuality, while Thailand's homophobia mainly came from trying to copy Victorian Europe into becoming more "civilized", ironically. So, while true that Anin and Pin's relationship historically wouldn't have been accepted in Thailand, it made no sense for the UK to be painted in such a positive light when it came to queer relationships, and if there's anything I hate in any type of media, it's glazing of the west.

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No content... flashy scenes, fake acting, silly dialogue

Well this is like a slide show of very sensational and/or pretty images, whizzing by fast...
The acting is sooooo fake... soooo cringe... ough bad!!!
and the dialogue is super simple and rather silly

it is just over the top bombastic and dramatic
I doubt there is any humor in this or any lightness

it is great for audience that cannot focus on acting
Basically a short vertical but in a long format.
========

PURSUIT OF JADE - wow what a scam lmao
I just read an article about Chinese government's public announcement asking for focus on good scripts rather than just looks ... and millions of fans, international too, are saying they just care to see a pretty face and how the ML actor is so beautiful...

I would say to idol fans swooning over the "beauty" of these Chinese actors: Capool beautiful LMAO Chinese military publicly complained about ML not looking like a man... Indeed, he looks like a porcelan doll skinny sickly teenage girl .... yeah with tons of makeup...

Gees, I found myself symphatizing with Chinese military and Chinese government LMAO Never ever expected that :) but on this issue, I totally see their point :)
And I wish them good luck... It is their fault they dumbed down the ppl so much that this is happening... the people do not have any interest to think about deeper subjects and they only care to swoon over some pretty boys.... HOW COME IDOL FANS ARE NOT PROTESTING THE WAR IN IRAN OR GENOCIDE IN GAZA - OR THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT? but are playing hookie worshiping porcelan-pretty faces?...

So funny, the cover photo for the "popular actors" shows 4 ppl 2 men and 2 women - who look almost identical... And inside the article, all these ppl look alike.....

The new trend is a triangular jaw and a unisex look, same for men and women... and they all look like porcelan dolls and like teenagers... They look like they came out of a cartoon..... So weird

So unhealthy.. they all look super skinny, like starved teenagers...

And even a funnier thing, the West is swooning over a cdrama, so communism WON globally LMAO
Pursuit of Jade is the best terrorist attack from China, ever LMAO
Holywood is dead and China gets to brainwash the world! Lol but with Holywood-like dramas lmao No content, just the looks and hype

THE WEST HAS SWITCHED TO CHINESE !!!!
The idol fans are great at spreading Chinese influence :) I never expected this but there we go

I wonder what will come out of this - world peace OR spread of Chinese communism lifestyle.. OR... spreading Hollywood under Chinese name... ?
Let's see :)

Also, Chinese seem to be only able to protest their government by choosing to watch these Hollywood-like delulu shows focused on the shallow ideas of some external beauty and without any meaningful messages.

This is certainly going somewhere....not good lmao

Creative amazing storytelling kdramas are going extinct... The ingredients of a good story:
part 1: flaws,
part 2: falling and having to try hard to get up
part 3: transformation
are to be found only in kdramas.
Unfortunately, new kdramas tend to focus only on the Holywood recipe to show only the TWISTED PART 1: flaws and making more and deeper flaws...

as the Hwood fans switch to ASIAN DRAMAS WITH HWOOD FEEL - essentially Hwood minus too much s.x and violence - the ex-Hwood ppl bring their preferences ... and since the West has the $$$$$$$$ and hundreds of millions of users... they call the shots

Asian dramas are going Hwood way. The totally wicked unexpected twist is that Cdramas - as most fake, silly, dramatic, shallow, meaningless, and sensationalistic - are closest to Hwood so ppl love them LMAO

This turn of events is better than any drama out there LMAO but it is actually scary and sad.
Idol fans are blind and irrational, and lack common sense and objectivity , so them overtaking the world is a scary thing

So let us see what happens :) The way it is going, this is my prediction:
THE IDOL FANS WIN :) ultimately, as the world slides into Idiocracy, 2006 american movie, or american movie Equilibrium, but not quite, bc ppl will be like porcelan dolls and not able to live their own lives.

Eventually one day everything will look like that cheesy cdrama, just a bunch of fast whizzing images and nobody thinking. Then the whole world will collapse and we EITHER enter Matrix movie or everything disappears and humans start from scratch

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Uma Boa História!!!

Que BL que foi uma experiência agradável de assistir, apesar de curtinho, ele entregou o que prometeu. Eu classifico esse tipo de série, como um BL “Fast Food”, aquele tipo de história rápida para vocês assistirem quando quiserem algo que não tome muito o tempo de vocês. Além disso, ele não causa indigestão, pois são enredos sólidos, coesos e apaixonantes. O Japão assim como a Coréia tem essa fama, entregar boas e cativantes histórias, em um espaço curto de tempo. E com “Love Is Better The Second Time Around” não foi diferente, não é uma grande e impactante história, mas trouxe o amor e conflitos que eu gosto de assistir. O destaque dessa série para mim foi o amor atemporal de Miyata e Iwanaga (ou Hoshizawa Senpai), que iniciou na doce juventude e teve um desenrolar na vida adulta, me trazendo aquele tipo de desenvolvimento mais maduro com personagens 30+. Miyata me mostrou que nem sempre ser adulto implica ter maturidade e certezas, pois acompanhei suas inseguranças, medos, traumas, reflexões e falta de amor próprio a todo momento, nas suas tentativas de negação de seus sentimentos por Iwanaga. E foi muito bom acompanhar sua evolução pessoal, à medida que ele se permitia viver novamente esse amor, descobrindo sua confiança e resolvendo o passado. Da mesma forma, o centrado, maduro e bem sucedido Iwanaga, me trouxe as certezas, o preço das escolhas, suas batalhas internas, a relação conturbada com a família e a necessidade de recuperar o tempo perdido. Evoluindo também ao ponto de se enxergar e aceitar suas falhas e imaturidade do passado, mas principalmente, de não abrir mão novamente do seu grande amor independentemente de qualquer coisa. Temperando esse enredo, tivemos também como destaque, o assistente de Iwanaga e rival do amor de Miyata, Shiraishi. Ele me deu todas as vibes de uma mona afrontosa, obsessiva e que está sempre disposta a fazer qualquer coisa pelo seu homem, trazendo o caos e a irreverência para o relacionamento dos protagonistas, o que foi uma delícia e hilário de acompanhar. Minha nota vai ser apenas um 07, pois foi uma boa história, divertida, romântica e que ainda me trouxe um pouco de reflexão sobre a vida, o tempo, o destino e sobre as escolhas que fazemos. Não tivemos grandes beijos, mas tivemos cenas de amor maravilhosas, doces e intensas, além de um bom “bolo” japonês batido e úmido. E para completar, toda a beleza, charme e momentos de fofura do casal Myiata e Iwanaga, que não poderia também deixar de mencionar aqui.

Recomendo ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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OKAY !!!

Idk where I should start . I really wanted to give this series the benefit of the doubt, especially after their previous series at least it was watchable, but it ended up being a massive disappointment. While the first two episodes showed some promise, the quality took a sharp nosedive immediately after. The writing became increasingly messy and aimless, leaving the plot feeling like it was spinning its wheels rather than moving the story forward.

The technical aspects didn't help, either. The cinematography felt uninspired and "flat," failing to create any real atmosphere or visual interest. This was compounded by the acting, which unfortunately felt forced and wooden throughout; I found myself constantly pausing the series just to take a break from the secondhand embarrassment of the cornier scenes. It was nearly impossible to form an emotional connection with the characters when their dialogue and delivery felt so unnatural.
Ultimately, there was no justifiable reason for this to be 14 episodes long. The story was stretched so thin that it became a chore to finish, turning what could have been a tight, punchy narrative into a bloated, repetitive experience. I genuinely hope that for their next project, the team prioritizes a solid, well-paced script and more authentic performances over simply filling a runtime.

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