Reviews

Lying Heart is a good drama.. worth to watch although I fast forward some episodes in the middle (well it was more than 20 episodes, for sure there are some scenes that certainly can be cut and make this drama even better)

What I like about this drama :
1. Raveen, the main lead's character (the lady) is strong and smart. I like the way how she handle Pring (her cousin). She's not typical easy to manipulate character just like we usually found in Lakorn.
2. The little girl, Thaywa's daughetr, is so cute when she try to match making her daddy and her step mom
3. Good chemistry between two main lead
4. Real kiss spoiler. It's rare in Lakorn

What I don't like :
1. Da, the sister of male lead, have the unreasonable hatred toward Raveen. Even to the point she was asking her brother marry Raveen for revenge. Her character is so weak, she blames Raveen because she think her lover loves her and kill himself (what is she thinking of?)..  it's annoyed me watching her being so stupid and unreasonable.
2. Despite of patray as smart businessman, Thaywa, the male lead, is unreasonably follow her sister plan, doesn't investigate about the truth
3. Pring and her mom are so annoying but it's typical villain in lakorn.

I will give better score for this drama, if only the episodes not that long and Da character is not that unreasonably annoying

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Initially I watched the drama because of Hyeri and Hoya but I ended up really loving the two main characters playing the cops' Dong Tak and Soo Chan! honestly, their friendship could have been better developed as the ending was quite abrupt. Also, I usually like Hayer's acting but I felt her character didn't really add to much of the show. But the comedy in this show was really well developed. I also thought the relationship between Dok Gi and Bong Sook was really cute but again it felt like the story just wasn't developed well enough. Definitely recommended to watch.

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***  Lost Time ***  But worth it in the end!

It Lost me between Episode 7 and Episode 14 before it started holding my interest again; and since the story is about Mages, we finally get to see some more fighting & magic in Episode 16 in the secret chamber under the Celestial Dance House, where it starts to pick up momentum for me until the final episode.

The intermittent songs with flashbacks were so cliché they should have been omitted and used for the more 'Campy' frivolous, romantic dramas.
In this last decade, viewer's have become more sophisticated in their tastes, even as Sound & CGI technology excels.  It's time to change the style and advance to a more cinema-like quality with the 'Wow' factor and ditch the old over-used plot tricks.  (ie... mid-episode songs; having to give air underwater to pretend a kiss; corny 'flirt' music in the background while man and woman banter back and forth with meaningless stale words; and the 'catch and swoop' as an excuse for them to hug and get close).  Seen it sooooo many times, isn't the audience getting bored yet?  Aren't the writer's tired of scripting the same old thing?

On a positive note, the core basis of the story is compelling and the costumes and settings are appealing.  I gave this a high rating for it's integral quality, any misgivings that I mentioned were just my opinion and should not have any negative impact to dissuade others from enjoying this series, because it does hold high entertainment value.  Maybe we're just starting to expect more in this digital age and to execute the masterful presentation of a story, it needs to compliment the great special effects and discard the hokey banal components of yesterday.

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A very great movie. I wish I found this movie a lot earlier.  It is my dream to live in this kind of peaceful nature place in Japan, so this movie is so perfect for me. A funny and simple story line yet very meaningful movie. Made me want to leave everything and become a wood-guy although I understand that it might not be as easy and as beautiful in real life.

You can learn many things  about Japanese culture from this movie. They way they do their job and and at the same time respect the forest and their culture are so beautiful to watch.

As for the cast, they are perfect especially Sometani Shota and Ito Hideaki. Really love the scene when Ito Hideaki get to know that Sometani is his trainee and he goes "Eh? Kaaaahhh" disappointedly and did the snot rocket (blew his nose snot) right away lol.

I really wanna thanks my friend for introducing this movie for me. Thank you so much.

10/10

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Non-spoiler review (If you wanna read my spoilerish review, it's in the comment section)

So, I finished watching Gomen, Aishiteru. It was one of the most emotionally invested Japanese dramas I’ve ever seen. It has a lot of heart and warmth in it without saying so much. The simplicity in its storytelling was what drawn me to it.

I know that Japanese dramas like to emphasize on their characters’ and stories’ quirks. Sometimes a bit too much to the point of making no sense at all. Currently I’m watching Quartet and after a few minutes in, I was already bombarded with the characters talking incessantly about lemon and karage.

One more thing I noticed is that love stories in Japanese dramas nowadays seem so dry and detached. And they also tend to glorify extramarital affairs a lot lately. Gomen Aishiteru also has the extramarital affair bit but it has been handled well. And nothing good comes out of extramarital affairs.

In addition to that, Gomen Aishiteru has that 90’s - early 2000’s romance feel that I missed so much. Granted that it was a remake of Mianhada Saranghanda and they could have done it with Japanese drama’s quirkiness. But I’m glad that they actually remained faithful to the original version and interpreted it with Japanese drama’s sensibilities. Like Tomoya Nagase said, it was more of a tribute/homage to the original version of the drama.  I also liked how the Japanese version treated the story differently. And I realized that Gomen Aishiteru was more about Ritsu’s journey and how the people around him affected by it rather than his destination.

Several changes have been made to the story which I think for the better. Its ambiguous ending is what makes Japanese dramas special. They didn’t give you the answer right away, instead they left it all to us to make our own interpretation because life is like that.

Moving on to the performances, the cast did a great job at playing their roles effortlessly. Chizuru Ikewaki was flawless as Kawai Wakana, Baijaku Nakamura as Mita Tsuneo was good, though there were moments where he was over the top which I think it’s necessary for the character. Ayaka Onishi made an impact as commitment-free Furusawa Touko.

 Kentaro Sakaguchi shone as Ritsu’s privileged and pampered but terminally ill step-brother, Hyuga Satoru who was selfish at times that he had hurt Rinka emotionally because he was so obsessed with Touko.

Otake Shinobu as Hyuga Reiko was interesting as the ‘hateful’ person which I kinda empathize for her later on because yes, she made a huge mistake but at the same time she also suffered the consequences for what she had done and I think it’s unfair.

Riho Yoshioka as naive and faithful Mita Rinka was excellent. She was the anchor of Ritsu’s and Satoru’s lives. The difference is that Satoru manipulated her for his own security while Ritsu saw her as an equal. I also liked that Rinka was someone who in someway a strong character and had the courage to move on with her life when she needs to because she knew that Ritsu wanted her to be happy no matter what.

Last but definitely not the least, Tomoya Nagase. He was spectacular as Okazaki Ritsu. He has proved time and again that he’s one of the best actors in Japan and extremely underrated. Okazaki Ritsu is the best character that he has ever played. He was passionate, melancholic, emotional, vulnerable and awkward at times when it comes to love because he had never experienced it before Rinka came into his life. There was a lot of warmth and empathy for the people around him even though he himself was suffering and had gone through a lot of pain in his life. Apart from that, the way Tomoya portrayed Ritsu and emoted through his eyes and facial expressions without saying anything were incredible. His appearance in the drama was also different from that of Fragile, his previous drama. He was unkempt and rough in this drama which implied that he was not well taken care of with only a few clothes on his back when he arrived in Japan, looking for his mother. These subtle changes are what made Ritsu comes alive.

Another thing that I love about this drama was the characters development. It was subtle change in the characters’ behaviour that moved the plot seamlessly. The theme song “Forevermore” by Hikaru Utada could have been better and I wish it was more mellow. But good song nevertheless. The cinematography was top notch. It gave the drama a melancholic feel with its greyish and yellowish tones, and as the drama progressed, the colors became even more stark and gloomy as if they were depicting Ritsu’s pain and sadness.

The directors, Ishii Yasuharu, Mizuta Naruhide, Ueda Hisashi did fantastic jobs at making the story flowed so smoothly. And I love the background score of the drama.

Gomen Aishiteru has become one of my favourite Tomoya’s dramas of all time. I’d like to thank the people who casted him as Ritsu and tapped into his different range of emotions that are beyond his comedic ones. I can’t wait for Soratobu Tire to release this June 2018 and I’m sure he’s going to rock as Akamatsu Tokuro too.

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Never judge a book by its cover and never judge a drama by its NAME! Had the title of this drama been Because This Is My First ‘Love’, I would have certainly watched it the first day itself. But the actual title did not interest me so I did not watch this drama till everyone on Instagram started praising it. I asked my friend (who has been watching Korean dramas since 2004) about the drama and she told me how good it was and how it felt like a sweet Japanese dorama. Say ‘Japanese’ to me and you will have all my attention. She highly recommended this drama and the very next moment I was online watching this drama. And I loved it from the very first episode itself. Never thought a trite contract marriage could be this evocative. My friend was right, it does feel like a Japanese dorama.    

Good Weights
I enjoyed watching Because This Is Our First Life because…
…Se Hee reminded me of Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory. His scientific reasoning for every feeling, every emotion made me laugh and go awwww at the same time. In one scene, Ji Ho expresses her feelings about finally being able to relate to others and be a part of a group after being an outcast all her life. Instead of offering some kind words of understanding, Se Hee justifies her feelings with Maslow’s theory. I wanted to strangulate him but changed my mind after seeing his honest face. Actor Lee Min Ki has done a fantabulous job portraying the robotic Se Hee. Please watch out for the scene where Se Hee announces his marriage to his colleagues and asks who all thought he was gay or asexual. That scene was hilarious. I am laughing even as I write about it.
 …I love Jung So Min. This girl is too adorable and her portrayal of Ji Ho is way beyond perfect. Ji Ho is a dejected, lonely and unsuccessful writer looking for love and success. Her's is a very real character, in a real-world working under real circumstances. She struggles throughout the drama and even at the end, she does not become an award-winning writer like most drama characters do overnight. She continues to struggle but with a smile on her face. Her optimistic and hard-working character is a delight to watch. Complications in her story show that life is not a fairy tale. Just when you think everything is going fine, life throws a curveball that hits you right in the nose and you are left disoriented for a few minutes. But just like Ji Ho, you have to pick yourself up and keep going. If you are lucky enough then you can even hit the batsman who hit you with the ball. Do watch out the scene where she kicks Se Hee to make him bow before her strict father. I was in splits watching that one.  
 …there is a lot of love and romance. It is almost like an arranged marriage where two people, bound by a relation, hardly know each other but fall in love gradually as they spend more time together. Se Hee who seems like a heartless robot initially becomes more caring with each passing day and Ji Ho cannot stop herself from falling for her loving husband.
…I love the second-lead (?) even when he is hardly there. The dimpled cutie, Bok Nam is not exactly a second-lead but I still loved him. Wish he had more role in the drama.
 …I liked the parallel storylines along with the central love story. I cried when Ho Rang and Won Seok broke up in the drama because theirs was the cutest love story in the show. And Su Ji and Sang Goo’s hook-up then break-up followed by another hook-up was interesting to watch. Mr Ma's sincerity and love towards Su Ji was very moving. I must applaud the writers for adding their sponsor’s product to the storyline very effectively through Su Ji’s bra troubles.
…I appreciated the girl bonding happening between Ji Ho and her two buddies, Su Ji and Ho Rang. I studied in a convent school and I know how much fun it is to be in an ‘only girls’ school. The three girls have each other’s back and support each other without judging. Every girl should have friends like Su Ji and Ho Rang.
…the supporting cast was just amazing. I liked each and every supporting cast member on the show including Ji Ho and Se Hee’s parents. Everyone was just awesome in their roles.  
…I loved the dialogues especially Ji Ho’s voice over where she explains scenarios in her and others lives sometimes through quotes and sometimes through her beautiful thoughts.
…..it gave me the perfect ending I was looking for. When I sensed that one of the three couples would be breaking up for sure, the drama surprised me with their dramatic reunion and I couldn’t have thanked the writers more for this. I prefer realistic dramas but I also like happy endings. Like Shah Rukh Khan from Om Shanti Om, I too am a sucker for happy endings and I feel a drama is incomplete without a happy ending. This drama gave me everything I was looking for and I’m happy as a clam. :)

Bad Weights
I did NOT like Because This Is Our First Life because…
Err….naaaah I LOVED this drama. This made me feel so happy that I was grateful to have discovered dramas in the first place. Why do you need anything else when a good drama is enough to give you the ultimate high. Drama is my drug and this drama is one of my favourites.

 
Oh noooooooo!! One side of our drama beam balance has broken because the ‘good weights’ have outnumbered the non-existing ‘bad weight’ by a large number indicating how much I loved this drama. Because This Is Our First Life is an entertaining and feel-good drama. It is one of those dramas that lift your spirit and bring a smile on your face. If you feel low at any point in time then just watch this drama and trust me, you will feel so so good about life and everything else.    
I give Because This Is Our First Life 4.5 out of 5 rating. No drama clichés (except for the contract marriage) just great content is what this drama comprises of. I will urge everyone to watch this NOW!!!!

Originally posted on Alphagirl.in :)

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Prison Playbook is a story about Kim Je Hyuk who is a baseball player that was unexpectedly sent to jail. He witnesses a criminal perform a criminal act on someone he knows. This enrages him and sends him in a frenzy. He proceeds to beat the crap out of the criminal. He is sentenced to jail as a result of his actions. Prison Playbook primarily walks us through Kim Je Hyuk's journey through jail. From time to time you will see flashbacks from the past which will help you understand how Je Hyuk (and some of the other characters) ended up that way.

Story: [9.5/10] Prison Playbook is one of those shows that sort of starts out slow and provides you with very little information. The series begins with an episode that is very vague. You learn very little about the character as well as the over-arching story at the very beginning. The story begins to unfold as you continue deeper into the series. You begin to learn about Je Hyuk and his personality. You also get to learn about his many different cell mates as well. Some good, others not so good. The good ones are awesome though when they group together and sort of form a little brotherhood of sorts with Je Hyuk. I'm definitely enjoying the mini-brotherhood/sisterhood themes that have occurred in dramas in 2017. I.e. the brotherhood you see in Prison Playbook and Save Me, the sisterhood you see in Avengers Social Club.  I also enjoy the fact that the series is not very predictable as well. Overall it's a very well written drama about prison. The comedy needs a little more work though, hence the 9.

Acting/Cast: [9.5/10]  I found the acting/characters in this show to be really refreshing. The first reason is the fact that our main character Kim Je Hyuk isn't really the brightest of the bunch. Why does this seem refreshing to me? It's refreshing because it makes the show a lot more realistic and credible. There are so many different shows I've watched where the main character had everything. He/She is usually the smartest, good looking, richest, and the best at a certain skill. Je Hyuk became a character that was easy to relate to for me because he seemed more like any other every day average joe. Well... other than the fact that he was one of the best baseball players in Korea at the time. Even that though is evened out by the fact that he uses his perseverance in order to help him get better at baseball.  It's a lot more realistic to see a character struggle to get to his/her goal (rather than be born with the skill). It was also nice to see Jung Woong In play a nice person for once. I swear he has played the villain in every other drama that he's in. Again I found his character very relatable and admirable. His character acts tough on the outside, but on the inside he's a teddy bear. He takes a lot of scorn from the prisoners but he often tries to do what is best for them. In fact I was a big fan of all of the prison guards except the Captain Na guy (You can't have all nice prison guards, that would make for a boring story).

Music: [9.5/10] Music is pretty likable. It uses an array of different tunes for different situations. The whole -cricket- whistle thing sort of gets old though.

Rewatch Value: [7,0/10] I possibly see myself rewatching this show in future. However it definitely would not be one of my top priority dramas to rewatch. The problem that I had with this show was that it was about 90 minutes long. Each episode is generally about one main topic/struggle that the main character(s) have to go through. Generally most Korea dramas have episodes that are 60 minutes long. The fact that this show is 90 minutes long meant that some events were essentially dragged out 1.5x longer than usual.

Overall I'm a big fan of the show. I thought the show started out pretty slow, but I began to like the show more and more as I learned more about the characters. It was an easy show for me to relate to because it is a show in which you have average Joe characters proceeding through life and going through some very realistic misfortunes. My only gripe about this show was that I was use to the 90 minute episodes. I found it hard to binge the show. I ended up watching about 2 episodes a day before deciding to go do/watch something else. Prison Playbook definitely distinguishes itself from its competition though. It's one of my most favorite dramas for the winter season. I recommend you give the drama a try.

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*** Disappointed ***
I don't want to be negative and bring anyone down, but the more I think about it, I have to admit that I really disliked this series.  The woman was passed back and forth between the men like a dirty rag they both wiped themselves on.  I'm so tired of love triangles, love squares and love pentagons...  I was hoping the two Princes would just dump her and the guys would just get together!  That would make a better story than this.  I enjoyed the fight scenes and the magic elements, but they were not enough to make up for the faulty adaptation of the story's romantic entanglements.  There was too much focus on 'love me, love me not' scenarios, when those scenes could have been used to better enhance the plot.  Maybe it was targeting a teen audience.

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This movie was a great watched. After watching most of the popular romantic comedy movies of 2017, I decided to go back a few years and start watching older movies. With this movie being released in 2007, I was skeptical that I was going to like it but it turned out to be really funny and somewhat relevant when it comes to in terms with gold diggers of this generation, even though the movie was released over 10 years ago.
Parts of the movie are predicatble such as whos the final guy she is going to fall for, but at the end you'll be suprised of the twist. Overall, all I can say is great movie.



The actress is cute and acts really well. As for the men, this is one of the movies were the men can act as well and they aren't whinning/begging for a womans affection, which is good!

I would definitely re-watch and recommend this movie.

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******  EPIC AND ENTHRALLING  ******
This series has it all for me...  Action, Magic and Intrigue with stunning scenery.  The beginning did not 'hook' me in at first, but once the plot starts to develop intricacies it began to captivate me. The slow movement and stillness of the scenes provokes emotion and suspense coupled often with ethereal music that lends a timeless quality to understanding the character's motives and actions based on the causal events of the past. I find the series masterful and engaging.

Episode 40 & 41 - I love the alchemical use of the natural elements in the soundtrack, instead of background music episode 40 uses Rain and episode 41 uses Wind and of course there is the crackling of fire in the camp.  So much majesty has been put into this drama, it is a work of Art, Frame by Frame.

Episode 47 - the soundtrack is amazing, the music itself takes you on a journey - it's an acoustical odyssey.      Cherchez La Femme - it's interesting that they are using women each time as catalysts to ignite a reaction that triggers a turn of events or should it be Cherchez Le Sorcier?  The cinematography throughout this drama is pure visual poetry, enchanting the viewer with the connection to nature; even in Ep. 66 the background noise of crickets chirping adds a layer of subtlety.  

Ep. 71-74:  There are a lot of fragmented flashbacks that seemed like a Bohemian Rhapsody:  'Is this the Real Life or is this just Fantasy, caught in a landslide, no escape from Reality. Open your eyes look up to the skies and See...'     The costume, set designs and use of colour were also aesthetically pleasing.  This should be the Flagship model that will hopefully lead the industry as an example for new dramas in the future.  It's refreshing to view a mature series with such depth instead of the shallow young adult dramas with sappy dialogue and dysfunctional relationships that we have been over-saturated with for years.  I will wait in anticipation for the next season to see what the artists conjure up next!

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I enjoyed this drama a lot, when i was watching this with my friend!
- i liked the couple of  this drama: Hou MingHao and Zhou Yu Tong.
- i liked this also, cause when i didn't know who is the one who is the bad guy, who killed Zhou Yu Tong's aunt, so it was kinda fun to suspect different roles in/at that drama.
- I liked the funny moments a lot!
- it has filmed very well!!
- i hope for a season 2, to come out at 2018 or 2019.

When i watched this, i laughed and cried.
I love the main role. <33
and i really hope that this drama will have also a season 2, cause i really hated the ending of this drama! I mean it can't end like this.. >:(
But i recommend this for people, who loves action and romance a lot, cause i watched this drama with my friend and we fangirl'ed a lot and cried. And when we watched the last episode we were so sad and kinda mad at the same time, so right now we hope that this drama 'Cambrian Period' will have a season 2.
But i really loved, enjoyed this drama so much! I have watched this over 3 times, and i maybe watch this with my friend again.~
And i'm sure that, if you watch this cdrama you will fall in love with the main role, or you will think that he is really cute! <33

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I was sooo sad to watch the last episode of this drama.  I loved it.

The main characters:
I am new to these dramas so not familiar with any of the actors.  I love the chef's (Jo Jung Suk) character.  He was arrogant but I definitely didn't hold it against him.  He was funny and you can tell that there was more to him then his brashness.    My favorite hands down was Shin Soon-ae.  I enjoyed the show better when she possessed Na Bong-sun's body.  I found Na Bong's character annoying to be honest.  I was constantly wishing for Shin Soon-ae to jump in her body to brighten everything up once more.
Officer Choi was definitely creepy the way he went from evil one minute and nice the next.  I don't think anyone who have ever believed that he was the one killing people.  It was sad that he killed Shin Soon-ae without even realizing or knowing that she liked him.
I found myself wishing that the chef would somehow magically end up with the real Shin Soon-ae.  I know she was dead but I really wanted her to have a happy ending.  That should have been her reward for uncovering all of the evil deeds done by Officer Choi.  I loved the chemistry that the characters had.
The supporting staff:
I really wanted them to explore more about Kwak Si-Yang's character, Joon.  At one point, I thought they would have made this a four way love affair because of how both Na Bong-Sun and Shin Soon-ae's relationship seemed so genuine.  It also looked like he was secretly carrying a torch for Na Bong but oh well.

I felt that they rushed the ending.  Most of the show centered around Na Bong and Chef but then they exposed everything in like two or three episodes.

I didn't care for the ending too much.  Like I said...I really wasn't cheering for Na Bong as herself.  My heart ached for Shin Soon-ae when she had to leave and say goodbye to everyone.  I felt that chef could have shown a bit more emotion when it looked like he finally saw her at the end.  It seemed like he no longer wanted to hold her hands when he found out that it was her and not Na Bong.  In my opinion, he really fell in love with Shin Soon-ae and not Na Bong.  He cared about Na Bong but I really couldn't see her as something that would have lasted if Shin Soon-ae was real and alive.  I wonder who would he have chosen?

I loved the shaman's relationship with Shin Soon-ae.  At the end when she was crying when she felt her crossing over really pushed me to tears.  I wanted for them at least to show her in heaven or something doing something fabulous or with a beautiful man like she hoped for but nothing.

All and all...I really loved this show.  The chef had me at hello.  I loved him.

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