Completed
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
6 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 8.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
The problem is I watched the Chinese version first. The only reason I gave this drama a lower score is that Moon Lovers can't compare with the scenery, the costumes or the sets of the Chinese version. That is pretty much the only reason I gave it a lower score. The story is daebak. I love everything about the complexities of the relationships in this drama. You don't know if you should love or hate some of the characters. Even though I was not as emotionally moved by this version, I think the writer did a wonderful job sticking to the original. Of course there are some difference, but it doesn't take away from the story.

I loved the acting in this drama. I love me some IU. She is a beautiful and talented person. She plays the part of Hae Soo with ease and poise. I'm not going to go through all the princes, except to say that in the original version I loved the 13th prince the most and that is still true. Hong Jong Hyun is just so cute too. I felt more for the 4th and 8th prince. I actually felt sorry for them this time instead of thinking they were fools. Kang Ha Neul and Lee Joon Gi are really good actors and I enjoyed their interpretation of the characters a lot. The other actors are good too.

The music is good.

I may rewatch this at some point.

I believe everyone can enjoy this drama regardless of seeing the Chinese version.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Love in the Moonlight
25 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
18 of 18 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
LITM is a drama that has been done so many times. The story is unoriginal and a little boring. At first I felt it was okay with the cute bromance and romance, but then politics take over and blah. Oh and I forgot to mention I am not a fan of gender/bender roles. There were a few emotional moments that I felt the characters were developed well. Actually, the only reason why I finished this drama is because of the acting.

Kim Yoo Jung is a beautiful person. Her soul just shines through her eyes. The problem is no one in a million years would believe that Hong Ra On is a boy. Just no way. I thought Park Bo Gum was highly overrated as an actor, but he was good in this. All and I mean all of the other actors are good too.

The music is fine.

I will never rewatch this.

If you like gender/bender seaguk, then watch sungkyunkwan scandal. It is a much better drama.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Uncontrollably Fond
3 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
UF has a lot of melodrama...I mean a lot. But that is what makes it great to me and not for others. So, fair warning to all you romance lovers. Not that there isn't romance too, but it is kind of overshadowed by all of the angst. The characters are totally unreasonable at times. I almost gave it a lower score until I realized that I was so involved in the story that I wanted to shake several of the characters more than once. I enjoyed the dark link of the characters, but it did have some over the top, everyone is going to die moments that are just crazy.

Although I know a lot of people don't like idol actors, I'm a total Suzy fan. I think she played the quirky Noh Eul very well. The other actors were good too and Kim Woo Bin adds to the eye candy. To me Yoo Oh Sung as Choi Hyun Joon had the best acting of all of them. Through all the melodrama, I felt he was real.

The music is okay.

I will never rewatch this.

If you like melodrama as I do, then you are in for a treat.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
High Kick Angels
0 people found this review helpful
by David
Nov 19, 2016
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.5
Not much of a plot/story line and some bad acting. Of course this one has whiny Japanese teens but, the fight scenes are off the chain. The budget for the movie went into training these girls for the fights scenes. Fast forward to the fights.
Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Cinderella and the Four Knights
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 1.0
CATFK is exactly what you would expect from a reverse harem drama. The story is wonderfully cliche and I would have given it a higher score if it had more character depth. I understood each of the guys, but the reason why they act the way they do is pretty lame. I actually like dramas like this that are reminiscent of the gateway dramas like BOF, Hana Yori Dango, and You're Beautiful. Plus, the eye candy is daebak!

Park So Dam as Eun Ha Won saves this drama. She is so adorable, strong and determined. She isn't stupid from the beginning and doesn't get on the nerves like other characters similar to her. I mean I still avoid the girl that played the female lead in BOF. The other actors are good to considering what they have to work with.

I loved the music.

I may rewatch this some day for fun, but I highly doubt it.

If you like reverse harem dramas, then this is one of the best I have seen.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Takumi-kun Series 2: Rainbow Colored Glass
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
Sad…but beautiful. Rather confused at the start as to where the story was going, but the sensitive ending more than made up for it. The story-line is not original but the BL angle is and I am happy gay relationships are given equally good treatment with straight romance. If only the same were true in Europe! Not one I would probably hurry to re-watch as it's very emotional but well worth seeing for anyone who has not.
Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
A Woman Wavering In The Rain
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Excellent directing and casting. The movie seems like a terrifying and frightening story, but it turns out to become a very touching story about two loved individuals who struggle through together. As the story flows through, I feel that it symbolizing life and freedom of awareness. Again, Japanese do intend to have the best creative ideas and incredible storylines. Terrific! 4.5/5.

Movie Japan Woman Being Shaken by Rain
Romaji: Ame ni Yureru Onna
Director: Yoshihiro Hanno
Writer: Yoshihiro Hanno
Release Date: 2016
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Cast
Munetaka Aoki
Ito Ono

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Forget Me Not
6 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
It sounds like that some sort of fantasy element is involved but it is absolutely not. The movie does not give an explanation at all, other than to compare it to people forgetting their classmates a long time ago. This major point is not reached until one third of the movie. Nothing special happens until we reach two thirds of the movie. I like the climax since it makes full use of the being-forgotten characteristic. I don’t like movies that have no resolution at the end though. The whole thing seems contrived to serve a tear jerking moment, so I’m not impressed. A subplot involving the girl’s father is also incomplete.

Excellent film and it is incredibly good. Love the cast and the directing.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
5-ji Kara 9-ji Made
5 people found this review helpful
Nov 19, 2016
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
From 5 to 9 is incredibly funny and touching in a few scene. A rich prince from the palace will love a common English instructor is a very good idea. Somehow, they fell in love with each other. Just like the film called "Buzzer Beat", back in 2009, Keiko Kitawaga and Tomohisa Yamashita, both in a separate different world, but somehow unite together. However, this is a bit different and the storyline is excellent and very touching.

I strongly recommend this Japanese Drama. It is excellent 10/10 from me (5 stars out of 5 stars)
Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Hippocrates no Chikai
5 people found this review helpful
Nov 18, 2016
5 of 5 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Japanese drama have excellent ideas in their plots and never had the same storyline like any other countries drama that I have seen in the past. Usually the actress Keiko Kitawaga plays different roles and most of her drams is about romance, comedy, and tragedy. This time, she plays as a professional medical doctor who found herself becoming an autopsy specialist. Now, there are strange cases that she encounters every time. I do strongly recommend this drama to anybody who likes investigations series, autopsy, and medical field. Again, excellent performance and exciting stories.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Last
1 people found this review helpful
by ChaNee
Nov 18, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
I haven't watched many Action dramas but the few that I have watched was not a disappointment and Last definitely did not disappoint. It may be the second best of the ones on my list.

Yoon Kye Sang has to be one of the most underrated actors. This is the second time that I have seen him since Beyond the Clouds and he just blew me away again with the intensity of his performance. Just Outstanding. As for Lee Bum Soo, he always knocks it out of the park every time. What more can I say besides perfection? It was very hard to dislike his character, Gwak Heung Sam. Bum Soo gave so much depth to him that you couldn't help but sympathize with his life story. Now don't get me wrong, understanding turned to hate real quick LOL! but he made it a wonderful ride. Last but not least, Park Won Sang. I have to quote Odilettante, author of the recaps on Dramabeans when she described Won Sang's character, Jong-Gu. "his amazing hair and fabulous cheekbones" He was most certainly that along with being the epitome of good in a place that revolved around so much evil and corruption. This may have been the reason I was fangirling so hard:) In short, Jong-Gu turned out to be the character I invested my time in. He was my main reason for binge watching. The rest of the cast was exceptional. The story couldn't have moved without the awesome acting of each one one the one. The main supporting cast gave plenty of comic relief, tears, anger, revenge, etc etc. They are the ones that made this drama story worth watching.

There is a major complaint that keeps me from giving this drama a 10 rating. It fell a bit short in the rap up of certain character story lines. It doesn't hurt the finale but it would have been good to know what happened to certain characters that had a tremendous impact rather big or small. It's left to your imagination. I think it would have been good to have an extra episode to make it that odd 17 but that's just me being greedy.

The music was good. I gave it a 5 rating. There were only 2 songs that caught my attention but the instrumental for the action segments did them justice. I rarely pay attention to the music unless a vocal song off of the OST catches my attention so the music value will always rate a bit low not because the OST is not good but blame my attention span.

I have yet to rewatch a drama in my 4-5 years of watching Asian Dramas so it's always a 50/50 chance because I have a few on my mind.

I definitely recommend LAST as being one to watch. If you don't watch for anything else, watch it for Lee Bum Soo. That short man can wear a suit:)

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Desperate Sunflowers
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 18, 2016
Completed 0
Overall 4.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers
I don't think I spoil anything but there are potential hints to spoilers.

I watched it for the interesting premise (and was looking forward to the dynamic between the main character and her cousin), and I was expecting a fairly high quality movie in all aspects... and was unfortunately disappointed.

The character development was largely abysmal, with the main characters not being really fleshed out into round characters throughout the movie, with the exception of the cousin growing on me (I liked that they tried to get the audience to sympathise with her however there was a point where it seemed almost too far). Several characters have rather cliched story arcs, and the movie itself having parts which were largely predictable.

The story itself was also a little easy to guess, they didn't really go to "new places" or try. I also have issue with the way the movie was filmed - a lot of techniques seemed very unnecessary and didn't add to the story, instead making the viewer extremely aware they were disconnected from the story, which I believe isn't what the director was really trying to do. Perhaps you'll enjoy it a lot more if you go in with an open mind. Overall, it had its enjoyable and comedic and satisfying aspects, but there were too many "flat" characters, not just a few of the main, but also the (relatively) side characters.

The acting was alright and probably one of the stronger points. Some (like imo the main character) weren't good, but to be fair they weren't given that much to work with either.

The music wasn't necessarily bad but some of it seemed really inappropriate and not fitting to the SITUATION.

And I wouldn't rewatch it but I rarely rewatch movies unless they're pretty good or chill so I won't take this too much into account honestly.

Tl;dr: don't go in expecting an award-winning movie. Just chill out, lower your expectations, watch it for the amusement and family drama.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Cold Case: Shinjitsu no Tobira
15 people found this review helpful
Nov 18, 2016
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Every country dramas are similar in one way or another. However, this Japanese drama is a re-make of a Hollywood popular drama "Cold Case", that is incredibly unique. They have inserted and blend in a more interesting plot with exciting cases of detective investigation. This drama is strongly recommended. This Japanese is also sponsored by Warner Bros. Yo Yoshida, the experienced actress, plays the main role in this drama. A mature actress that plays the same in Hollywood version in Cold Case as well.

Set in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, "Cold Case" follows Yuri Ishikawa (Yo Yoshida) and her team as they try to crack unresolved cold cases.

Drama: Cold Case
Romaji: Korudo Kesu: Shinjitsu no Tobira
Japanese: ?????????????
Director: Takafumi Hatano
Writer: Takahisa Zeze, Yasuhiro Yoshida

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Fall in Love
3 people found this review helpful
Nov 18, 2016
Completed 2
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 5.5
If you r a wallace fan u probably would watch. The story wise is quite nice. But its also how long it takes for the leads to cross path to talk to interact. Felt it was left till very late. N finally when the ball got rolling you are in the final 10minutes of the show. So personally i find it was a waste because theres chemistry in Wallace and Olivia's characters.
Sidenote i was surprise to google it was Olivia. Same gal in Ode to Joy and When a snail falls in love. Looks so diff with the change in harstyle.
Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
8 people found this review helpful
Nov 18, 2016
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
If you came from the future and told me how I would rate this drama I would have never believed you. I was obsessed in the beginning. I thought this story about getting sucked into the past was intriguing. I actually liked the female lead, and loved the dynamic between all the Princes. Once the 4th Prince came into the picture I was convinced that this would be one of the most exciting sageuks I've seen so far... now that I finally finished I am not so impressed.

First, I have very mixed feeling about the lead. I actually liked her in the beginning, but slowly she started to annoy me, and then her character stopped making sense at all. IU was great when if came to flirting with and challenging all the Princes, but once the role became more serious, her acting seemed more and more lacking. Then add to that the fact that the character's actions made no sense, and I could no longer stand her, or her visions. She was a very frustrating character to try to root for.

To me, the real stars are two of the Princes, Prince Hottie (#8) Kang Ha Neul, and Prince Bad@ss (#4) Lee Joon Gi. They are the ones who kept me watching. They were definitely the most complicated of all the characters, and they both had great chemistry with IU in the beginning. Unfortunately, as the story progressed they both went from being complicated characters I could empathize with, to characters that were very hard to defend or like. I know in some ways that this is a tragedy, but leaving me with only characters I don't like left to root for makes it hard to want to keep watching.

There were also some good villain characters, which I can appreciate. One of the worst mom's in the history of dramas, the worst sister, the worst father, and of course the worst brother (or two, or three...), but once almost everyone left seemed to be evil, the villains were a lot less fun to hate. I just started to dislike everyone instead.

That brings me to the story. There were so many characters, and some really great dramatic stories to follow, with a great supporting cast to make it all work. The problem is that after building up each story, where it eventually all lead to was very disappointing. The way characters suddenly completely switched personalities made no sense. The main romances started to feel forced and fake. The tragedy aspect of the story started to get extreme, almost like they threw every terrible thing they could think of in... with even the cute romantic scenes starting to seem rapey. Still I was more frustrated than sad, and also totally confused. The conclusion, and why she was there in the first place seemed thrown together, and I felt cheated. Many of the supporting characters had better plots, and stronger performances, than the lead. It almost seems like a waste of a great ensemble cast.

One good thing was that the soundtrack was good, with a few songs being worthy of my KDrama OST playlist.

Would I watch this again? Probably not, but part of me still remembers what I loved in the beginning, which may be worth revisiting. However, 20 episodes did feel way too long once the story started to fall apart. If I could go back in time I would probably tell myself to watch it again, but with lower expectations, and maybe skipping through most of the last few episodes.

Overall, this is a hard one to recommend unless you are a true sageuk fan, or a fangirl for any of the Princes. Part of me is curious to see what the Chinese version is like, but I doubt I will ever watch it. This was my first time watching 2 on air sageuks, and If I had to choose the best one with "moon" in the title, this one wouldn't be it.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?