Its a refreshing drama to watch if you are tired of sweety sugary romance dramas. And if you are into law a little bit. It has lots of comedy in it and little action. Plus Kang So Ra is here. And that lead guy from "Lovers in Paris".
Started to watch this last month but got stopped due to some circumstances (I moved houses). Plus I am also watching this with my husband. One of the KDramas he agreed to watch with me since there is not much cutie romance in it.
Its a refreshing drama to watch if you are tired of sweety sugary romance dramas. And if you are into law a little bit. It has lots of comedy in it and little action. Plus Kang So Ra is here. And that lead guy from "Lovers in Paris".
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Absolute Boyfriend - started this drama since I am watching I am not a Robot(sorry, korean drama reference) and they have the same theme, robot thingy, and I just took notice since I found Jiro Wang so handsome that I want to check this drama out. So far so good. Now I am also back to T-dramas now...where I actually started with Asian Dramas after all (Meteor Garden, I am referring to you...)
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Discovery of Romance- Just finished this drama. I watched this because of Sung Joon from I need romance 3. It's a good drama, how come I did not "discover" it sooner...the cast is great and the story line is awesome. If it wasn't for Sung Joon, I wouldn't have paid attention to this gem of a drama. Even if Sung Joon Oppa was not lead here, he did a great performance. Was not too fond of the lead guy, Eric Mun, but he was good too. Female lead was just ok.
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Just finished this drama. I have mixed feelings if its good or not. Some parts good, then some parts funny. It just felt frustrating that all 15 eps were dedicated on running after the female lead. I guess that's the plot. Maybe the only compensation is it ended well. Just my opinion, i don't recommend it.
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My review when I watched in Oct 2016:
Finished watching this amazing Taiwanese drama yesterday. It was a 13 episode drama but it is about 1 hour and 30 mins long per episode. I think its broken down differently in different sites. Just check it out.
Anyway, my verdict is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It is not a perfect show but it definitely captured my emotions. I was definitely entertained. Its a good mix of emotions such as comedy, drama, heartbreaking, warmth and comfy. It was a great drama. The lead actors are a delight to watch as well. Don't know where to start praising this drama. I heard that it won a lot of awards in Taiwan. And the very fact that it was remade in Korea as "The Time that we were not In Love" means that it has a good story plot for another country to remake it.
First off, the lead actor, Bolin Chen and the lead actress, Ariel Lin, did a great performance to convince you that they are indeed bestfriends who are hiding secret longing from one another. It was very heartbreaking to watch up until episode 12 I think. It makes you think like "Are they ever gonna be together?". But of course, we know on the onset that they will be. So just be patient.
The one thing I just did not like was the very first episode or atleast half of it, its kinda boring, with the monkey or gorilla something that was being chased by Cheng You Ching (Ariel Lin) at the beginning. I know this signifies "time" because she was problematic as hell for being 30 and mature. But it was kinda off putting for me. Like, you can be happy at any age please. Like there is a saying that "life begins at 40" right. Just look at Li DaRen's (Bolin Chen) mom, who got married who know how old she was to Uncle Bai (the bestfriend of Li DaRen's mom). Anyway, maybe the gorilla thing just pissed me off. Haha. Just my two cents. But I promise you, just get pass that, you will enjoy the whole drama.
As for Li DaRen, I like how he is so gentle and kind. A perfect match for our arrogant Cheng You Ching. He is always there for her, even if he has a girlfriend. And never outsteps his boundaries as a male friend, especially when You Ching had a boyfriend/fiancee in Ding Li Wei.
As for Ding Li Wei, I am not sure. I think that he was really an ass before when him and You Ching broke up 5 years ago, but this time, he really has changed. But he was kinda "caught in the act" that night with his assistant coming out of the shower in a towel. I feel that he was kinda set up by his assistant. It was not really explained further. Since Li Wei had a history of cheating with You Ching, so its unforgivable to even see a woman, much more, a barely dressed woman in a towel in his apartment. So that is that. You Ching was about to break off her engagement to him anyway. So it just gave her all the more reason to break up.
As for the "lessons" that You Ching kept on imparting per episode, the lessons for the "mature woman", it is nice and left a mark. They are all true. Any female could learn from them.
And finally, the part where they are about to become a "couple", at the IKEA showroom, on You Ching's birthday, it was so cute. Like You Ching knows that DaRen is courting her, so she then calls and consults her "bestfriend" over the phone with is DaRen also...Then after that, things just went into their "proper places" as it should be. Like being with each other even if flying back and forth between Singapore and Taiwan just to see each other for 2 hours at the least. The marriage proposal after deciding to finally be together in Taiwan after a coin toss between choosing from Singapore and Taiwan to settle. The wedding, of course. The awkward way that they kiss at first. The acceptance of the mom of DaRen with You Ching as official part of the family. The ties created between You Ching's family and DaRen's family, that they can visit each other anytime. And finally, the awkward honeymoon in Singapore. Then the perfect ending that points out that all relationships are not perfect after all. How DaRen persuades pissed of You Ching to go home after coming back to her parent's house with a luggage since they fought.
Soundtrack is pretty good. Matched the cozy and warm feeling while watching this show.
Obviously, I liked this drama a lot. Will repeat it again sometime soon. Or watch the remake (The time we were not in love), which I am not sure will measure up to this.
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Main couple i just too boring plus acting was cringe soooo bad.
Only frame and book were only ones who really make me watch 2 seasons.
It;s really sad bcuz whole drama have good plot and nice looking actors, but it's just too boring 80% of time, and there is too much girly acting main couple who whining about everyting and can't make decision about anything.
Like i said book and frame were amazing from their first time meeting as not friends to whole eps that their relationship growing up.
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... THE PROPHECIES
The first thing you need to know about this drama is that it's all about prophecies, and they are a big part of every episode and every plot decision. You won't ever have time to forget it, and "the storm of prophecies" is not in vain. This drama is a tapestry woven around three prophetic heroes: Muyun Sheng, the cursed prince who is going to destroy the Muyun Empire; Muru Han Jian, the abandoned son of the military heads of the Muru family, who is going to vie with Muyun for the throne of the empire and become its next emperor; and Shuefeng He Ye, the Iron Wielder who is going to unify the eight oppressed warrior clans of the northern prairie and take down the empire.
Basically, everybody knows that this generation will bring forth a great war to the world and everybody is making terrible decisions trying to stop or accelerate this fate.
... THE CHARACTERS
At the first one fourth of this drama everything is interesting, after all we are being introduced to the world: the Shuefeng clan of the northerns prairies at first. Then, we are introduced to the next big players: the harem and its bitter and calculative empress, the arrogant emperor and his regrets, the annoying court and its machinations, the inflexible Muru family and their tradition in military law and order, the jealous brother of the emperor who just can't let go of his ambitions. This is a drama full of side characters who have a lot of screen time for themselves, and they are often the ones running the show.
I must say that for me the only likable characters are the three heroes and their loved ones, but I loved to watch the first half of this drama even at the moments they weren't so present because the side characters were moving the plot along in interesting ways.
... THE CINEMATOGRAPHY AND MUSIC
The cinematography is awe inspiring on these first episodes - for real! And the plot is well paced too! There are specially wonderful scenes which are filmed really beautifully. So beautiful, in fact, that you might realize on the middle episodes the budget was blown at some point for some scenarios are badly done - specially the underground kingdoms.
And then the gorgeous cinematography makes a glorious comeback and your eyes are delighted again. :')
Now the music is a deception. They are good enough at the first third of the series, but then they become repetitive - many are used for more than one character so they become less distinctive, and at the 56th episode they are placed weirdly.
Not only that! I think that sometimes they had audio problem or something, so they rerecorded the dialogue. The problem is that the background noise is never the same, so these moments really stand out in a bad way and make the production seems cheap. I really don't know how they could let such an obvious mistake happen.
... THE PLOT
Being honest here: I love a slow paced drama. I do. And the first half of this drama is amazing, it' really really good! The scenes were wonderful in portraying the world building, the characters and the plot in a really good pace. I watched 50 episodes in three days and wasn't the least bit bored - so I strongly recommend the first 50 episodes. <( *v*)>
Now being completely honest:
We have 75 episodes. It isn't little. It's 70h of your life, and yet the series seems to be going nowhere after the 50th. There are a lot of people who complain about the pace, I agree and disagree with them.
- I disagree because I love to see the world building, I love to see my favorite hero (in my case it's Han Jian and his beloved Su Yu Ning) take things fully even if slowly. It's a big world they are building so I want to know the people and the culture - I love these fantasy elements of a novel.
- But! I agree with them that the pace is bad! AFTER THE 50TH!
If I were to elect the biggest flaw of this series is that the PLOT RETRACTS THE GROWTH OF THE CHARACTERS. The series drags a lot because one day the character realizes his stupid attitude and grows +10 points, and one week later he forgets everything because the plot demands so. -50 points!
How would it make you feel? It just makes me emotionally tired. We are 25 episodes to the end and stuff keeps going backwards???
Is the director experimenting with something? The drama is not well edited since the 10th episode but at this stage the pace can't suffer the amount that is suffering from the 50th-60th episodes. We should be walking to the climax of the story...
The drawback of the drama is that the biggest players are like this constantly, so the plot is always going back 5 steps back for every 2 going forward. You know what this means? This means that they have to spend episodes in the emotional wreck of the unlikeable character's lives because this is what the plot forces us. The director doesn't like going forward.
The characters who suffer the most for this are the women - from interesting characters on the first half they become passive and love fools on the second. (I didn't sign up for this, dammit (# o _ o)
This results in another week of a feast of suffering for the characters because events are being milked for all they are worth. I'm sorry, we have the 75-quota, guys ¯\_( 'u' )_/¯
I mean, I like to cry watching drama: I'm a big baby like that, but even I can't summon tears when even 60 episodes aren't enough to make the characters seem eye o eye in simple matters when they could just talk honestly with each other. Like han jiang and su yu nin. Or the muru father and first son. Etc.
Have you realized how weird is that? 75 episodes is enough to do the initiation of the characters, the big conflict and the resolution, showing us the characters and their daily lives, emotions, worlds and ambitions just fine. Instead, they are giving us reheated stuff over and over again.
Pardon my french but they completely lost the direction of the show in its second half. It's a trainwreck right now, wow.
That must be why if you glued side by side all the flashbacks that we are obliged to see again and again you would see that they alone are responsible for whole 20 episodes! I just... really want to punch somebody (p ° . °)_p
-------------------------------
TL;DR.
This is a too long series for the poor plot. The majority of characters are frankly unlikable but we are forced to watch them 60% of the time. The heroes suffer because this is a suffering feast. The women somehow degrade themselves into love fools who just do things for the men. The writers are slower than a beached whale because they drag the story so much that somehow 75 episodes are just enough to get to the middle of the story.
The worst thing is that the first half of the show was so great that even though I'm tired and I'm going to see how this ends because somehow I still like it more that I dislike it :')
Just saying that... If Han Jian and Su Yu Ning don't end up together, healthy and happy heads will roll.
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Story: 5/10
Andante’s story was soooo boring for me. I do have to admit that it was really realistic, but it had snail speed from beginning to end so I could never sense in which direction it was headed until the last fourth of the drama. But what should I expect? The synopsis is basically: “Getting through unfamiliar experiences, he [the MC] realizes the meaning of life and love.” This synopsis accurately sums up the entire storyline of Andante, and literally screams boring boring boring. However, Andante’s strong points come from its characters, their development, and their chemistry.
Acting/Cast: 9/10
I consider Andante’s entire line of leads to be rookie actors, and they did a pretty good job overall, in my opinion.
Let’s start with our leading man, Kai. I didn’t head into this drama with big expectations for him. He is, after all, an idol-actor, and this just his second project (after Choco Bank). While acting in Andante, Kai became humble Jongin, so if you are here for dorky Jongin, you will not be disappointed:) But since the focus is not always on Kai's character, you might find yourself staying for other things. Kai, as the naughty yet kind-hearted teenager named Shi Kyung, did an okay job. His acting was a bit shallow, and he did an okay job of portraying deeper emotions. However, Kai did seem super relaxed in his role and didn’t look as stiff as a piece of cardboard the whole time. Nothing bothered me about his acting and it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the drama, but he didn’t leave a lasting impression on me either.
Lee Ye Hyun, one of the female leads, is a rookie actor. This is fact, but I could not believe it. Ye Hyun made her character, the rebel Lee Shi Young, come alive. She could convey the emotions really well and make her character carry so much depth. Sometimes Shi Young felt like a supporting character, but at other times, I felt as if she was the main character of this drama because of the way her character stood out (it seems that every time I scroll past the cast section on this drama, Shi Young’s character would get moved up a slot haha). You might think that the way her character acts is annoying, but I feel like that makes her really realistic and relatable. I would definitely watch any future projects that she is in!
Kim Jin Kyung, the other female lead, also did pretty well for her first project, but her acting was not as memorable to me.
Characters: 9/10
This drama carries the power of making the viewer love all the characters introduced to the story. Why? Because it delves into the stories of every single character (yes, even the supporting ones), which shows the me their point of view while leaving little space for plot holes and unexplained story threads. Some time was spent on every character so that they got development, but the show doesn’t deviate from the main storyline of the MCs. All the characters were really realistic, well-written, and nicely developed.
Music: 6/10
Andante’s OST was okay. It did add a lot to the mood of the drama, but none of them were really memorable for me.
Enjoyment Level: 7/10
From episode 1 to episode 5, nothing really happened and I was about to drop this drama. But after I got past that point, the characters started developing and I enjoyed and appreciated this drama a lot more. The plot did bring down my enjoyment level by a lot since it was really slow the whole way through, and the only thing that convinced me to stay was the characters. Also, the comedy was pretty good. There was just the right amount of comedy, which helped balance out the sadder parts of this drama.
Rewatch value: 2/10
I wouldn’t really want to watch Andante again because how boring its story is, but I might come back to it one day to fall in love with all the characters again.
Conclusion: Great characters, slow plot, but not a must watch.
There were some small things that I didn’t like about this drama, but there were also other things that left a lasting impression on me. If you dig great characters, you should consider checking this out! Just get past the 5th episode and you will find yourself loving every character that you see in this drama. But if you can’t deal with a plot moving at 0.0001 miles per hour no matter how lovable the characters are, then it might be best for you to skip on this one:)
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