Reviews

I've never been fond of C Drama before (might be because I group China and Taiwan drama the same) and I stumble across Love O2O while I was bored and out of my mind. Ever since the first episode, I was hooked and frankly, this is the first drama I didn't skip and I watched it non-stop (pull an all-nighter) and was very satisfied with the plot line.

The main cast of "power couple" where the guy live up to the expectations with a dark side and they actually acknowledge the female lead is beautiful, I was very satisfied.

Watching this is like the fresh breather I needed.

rating: 11/10

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I'm in the minority here. I really liked it. Keep in mind it's telling a story in only 1 hr 14 mins. I found it a melancholy story of 2 people with financial woes that were keeping their lives from being what they wanted their life to be...who can't relate to that.
I mention the length because everything has to happen somewhat quickly, but I think Ha Jin and Kang Seok's relationship came together comfortably and believable. However, after a certain revelation things turn ugly. It was poignant and sadly disappointing when Ha Jin rejects Kang Seok. It breaks your heart that she seems to be completely heartless and materialistic no matter what the justification. Then when Kang Seok nearly follows suit in wishing his own sick mother would either get well or die so he can get on with his life really shocks you...but...if we are to be honest with ourselves we likely have been nearly as selfish at some point.
However, in the end both come to their senses, unfortunately for Ha Jin it's too late. Yet, Kang Seok's kindness will forever be Ha Jin'S as he will forever watch over her from a far. A bittersweet end.

As of October 5, 2016 it's on YouTube
https://youtu.be/0NaA_Afyodc

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So I was (am) in the middle of watching Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo and I had to do a double take and make sure that Kang Ha Neul really was in this! Ha-ha! Because this is a raunchy comedy featuring the minds and world of early twenty-something men!! Ha-ha. It has the crazy ideas of youth and the insanity of life. So the poise 8th Prince suddenly jacking off and . . . other shenanigans was so outrageous!

Outrageous fits this movie well. Outrageously funny is even more accurate. To be honest I'm not that familiar with these actors playing the leads. (Yeah. I KNOW who they are, but have been exposed to almost none of their work except for Kang Ha Neul.) The writing weaved a fabulous friendship that started over an unlikely event, but I believe that's how great friendships start. You just fall into it. The actors do a great job making me feel their friendship.

Really I don't want to give away too much of the story. However, I will say it has a nice awkwardness to the humor that comes from being real life. Come on. It's totally relatable. Even though you’re thinking “that's outrageous” it's totally believable. It deals with the awkwardness of the early twenties. Facing the reality that you are at a fork in the road where your life has to go on after school. Will you still have the same beliefs, how will you change, and of course how will your friendships change?

Honestly if these 3 guys ended up being in a male Sex in the City I would be on board. In a strange way I felt like the totally upfront and frank talks these guys had about sex and life actually had kinship to aforementioned show. Which is probably why I liked it so much! So Chi Ho (actor Kim Woo Bin) would be Samantha. Gyeong Jae (actor Kang Ha Neul) would be Charlotte. Miranda would be Kang Dong Woo (actor Lee Jun Ho). At least to me. (Sorry no Carries!)

The female cast is just as awesome and important. I loved Gyeong Jae's little sister! She's such a force and I love that she went for what she wanted. The other females where just as complicated and fabulous and held their own with the male cast. The parents that were present and the “adult” figures also did great jobs.

The music fit the movie well, but overall I've already forgotten most of it. I do know while viewing there were many times I thought: “that fits so perfectly!”

Oh, yeah. I would totally rewatch this again. It's too fun not to dust off for multiple views.

This is a more adult and frank real life type of Korean movie. Which I love. Actually I think if you like My PS Partner you will appreciate this one. No nudity . . . was there a naked butt? Lot's of sexual content! Chi Ho's player and sexy times there's not much in that graphic nature. Still be warned. I loved the story and humor. It feels out there, but it's relatable in the story of growing up. Especially as an early twenty something. Check it out. I dare you not to laugh your butt off.

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Thankfully the first couple episodes offered a unique take on affairs. Of course, it didn't take long for it to disintegrate into completely and utterly cliche. It gets hard to watch actually...But I really like Takei Emi, and found that the second male lead as well as the woman who played Yuka did well at playing their parts. Yuka's actress is so good at acting that I really hate her now lol

The plot through the middle of the show lacks content, the characters don't seem to have much development, and the actors don't have that great of a chemistry...I don't know, I just wasn't impressed.
My least favorite part is that it was suuuuuper melodramatic. Maybe I've grown less tolerant of melodrama, but it was really distracting in this drama.

If you're thinking of watching this, just mentally brace yourselves for episodes 4-9 to be bad because it won't be worth it til you get to the last episode. And even then the melodrama is an issue for me =____=
The last episode was good though! Relatively. Finally something I didn't predict would happen, haha.

Perhaps the only redeeming factor would be the theme song lol
I'm a total loser for melancholic songs, so this was perhaps the best part of the drama for me.
If nothing else, watch this drama for Yuka and her character growth! Everything else isn't that special.

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Plot
After 6 years spent in England, Xie Yan (XY) returns back home. He immediately comes to find Shu Nian (SN), who resumes his role of a servant. In a sense, the two revive their childhood days after a long separation. However, SN does not seem happy about XY’s return.
What turn will their relationship take next?

Overall, the story was not exaggerated, but somehow emotions are conveyed very well – sense of injustice, annoyance, care, worry… One can feel them all very strongly during the movie.


Characters
- Xiao Nian - unlucky orphan with a great heart. Very good at hiding his feelings, after years of service he became very proficient at obeying orders, quietly accepting his fate.
- Xie Yan – selfish, dominant, possessive, but deep down also caring.
- Jiang Yao – not shown in great detail in the movie, but seems to fail to understand love.

Great actors, very natural acting.


Music – fitting, but not very noticeable or particularly good.


Other comments
- XY was too dominant, which makes the relationship become abusive, especially at the beginning. However, one might argue that by showing this characteristic so clearly, the movie emphasises that this is a problem.
- The development of their relationship could be shown in more detail and in greater depth.
- Also, the movie contains a really interesting theme of an orphan, who basically becomes a servant to the heir of his adoptive family. The aspect of SN’s loyalty and servitude is clearly shown, but maybe this could be expanded upon further.
- Some moments were a little difficult to understand, but that might be due to the quality of subtitles.

Generally, a really interesting and good movie.
Would especially recommend it to those who:
- like BL movies
- are not typical BL audience, but are looking for a romance movie with an interesting plot
- are interested in stories of orphans

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Koe Koi, honestly I started watching mostly as a joke. I couldn't take the premise of one of the main love interests having a paperbag on his head, but the idea is unique and intriguing so I gave it a shot. I was really surprised that the drama was a 1/2 style over an hour long, but a refreshing change of pace.

What started as a joke had me marathoning episodes 1-11 in two days. It was addicting since the premise was rather predictable, but still watchable. Although I think the main actress was rather inexperienced compared with the others, she was still enjoyable and believable. I really appreciated the mini side stories sprinkled into the series in a non-obtrusive way. The music aside from the opening song (too cringey for me), was well chosen and mood appropriate in my opinion.

I've already recommended this drama to friends; she's a fan of Sakurai Dori anyway, so hopefully she'll be watching soon. Personally, for me I don't re-watch dramas overall so the rewatch value is fairly low.

I do recommend if every are looking for a shorter, easy to watch series, to watch Koe Koi. :)

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This was a drama that started out beautifully, it was so full of plot and characters rich with goals and personalities, but sadly a little past the halfway point these things started to wither away very rapidly.

This drama focuses not on romance, but more heavily on politics with plenty of action scenes thrown in there for good measure. The action scenes were very well done and I found myself thrilled most of the time, my eyes absolutely glued to the screen. The music matched each moment perfectly and the soundtrack is one that will certainly stick with me for a long time to come.

If Warrior Baek Dong Soo had perhaps been a few episodes shorter, maybe it would have become a masterpiece. But unfortunately it wasn't, and although I was completely in love with this sageuk, I found myself struggling through the last few episodes and there was that small tinge of relief when it finally finished. Because of this, I feel like the rewatch value would be ridiculously low here - I definitely don't see myself having the attention span to go through this again. The memories of the drama are positive ones though.

The acting was brilliant. It's safe to say the reason I chose this drama in the first place was because of Yoo Seung Ho and Ji Chang Wook and I certainly wasn't disappointed. They fit the roles splendidly, and Choi Min Soo played an even more amazing character that simply blew me away.

I laughed, I cried, and I don't regret watching it. Overall I'd say it was a very good watch, I just wish the excitement from the beginning could have made it all the way to the end.

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Even though this is the stereotypical case of an arrogant rich chaebol heir falling in love with the overworked kindhearted and super poor girl and the cliche plot-line of the two needing each other and having to stick with one another, something about this drama entrances you and just makes you want to watch even more.

Story
It's nothing new- boy meets girl, and slowly falls in love with her when he needs to stay with her despite hardships. This drama is about daily things that happen in your life, whether you're meeting up with a friend or just going to work and taking care of a kid. However these small daily things make up the drama entirely as it depicts the lives of these two dysfunctional people trying their best to live each day.

You might think that this drama is boring since its quite simple, but what really hooked me with this drama is the emotions expressed. The pain of having to live alone and push everyone you love away in order for them to be happy no matter how much suffering you have to go through is terrible, and Uee did a great job portraying these emotions.

Some people may think this drama is boring and nothing really interesting happens, however this drama is not about sudden events like car crashes or revenges; but this drama focuses on the emotional aspects and the relationships between families. No matter whether you're related by blood or not- the friendships and relationships you form are the important ones.

Acting
A lot of people seem to hate Uee's acting since it's 2-dimensional and that she's just reading her script- however I found her acting to be realistic. This is my first time seeing her act, and I think she did a wonderful job portraying as Hye Soo; someone who continually has to suffer despite her trying to live a good life. I would like to applause her acting especially when she's suffering in some of the scenes as she made it very realistic.

It also seems that Lee Seo Joon who played Ji Hoon was getting a lot of hate due to the fact that he looked much older than the female lead- and honestly, I think that notion should go to the trash. Yes, he's a few years older- but I think he did a magnificent job at portraying Ji Hoon! Sure he's not the most handsome actor out there, but looks are not the most important thing- it's acting and his chemistry with Hye Soo was endearing as you can seriously tell that he loved her and has shown that he is willing to do anything to help her.

Special mention of Cha EUn Sung (her daughter). She is such a sweetheart, and of course like all children- her attitude was quite annoying in the beginning since she acted like such a spoiled brat, but it's all forgiven since she's just so adorable and such a great child actress, especially as her character becomes more understandable as she's just a child that's scared of losing the person that means the world to her.

Music
I thanked the heavens that this drama didn't reuse the same 5 songs over and over again. The playlist had an exceptional list of instrumental music that I fell in love with as it truly beautiful. The songs with actual singing were pretty good as well as it was totally was the mood-setter.

The Bad
I didn't find much to not like about this drama, although people might think that this drama is too slow and nothing interesting is happening, however I liked the simple small things that happen. I didn't expect any craziness, since like I said- this drama is more about the relationships between family.

You might think it's a bit slow in the beginning, but it becomes much more emotional later on the episodes and then you will wish that everything was back to light and fluffy like the beginning.

Overall?
I recommend this drama to anyone who's looking for a family melodramatic drama. Of course, it's not the best drama I've seen but this drama will surely touch your heart and you can't help but feel for all the characters.

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Ho Goo's Love, the seemingly superficial rom com that starts off bumpy and looks way too light-hearted but ends up hitting you right at the core of the feels. Who'd expect? I certainly didn't!

So what was so extraordinary about Ho Goo's love? The drama without straying away too far from the usual kdrama cliches, like archetype characters, or absurd coinsidences and ridiculous comedy, manages to deliver something unique, be different and adress specific issues that not only are taboo when it comes to the dramaland but also ignored and overlooked in reality as well.

Ho Goo's love doesn't shy away from several problems that are incriminated by society like unexpected pregnancy, different sexual orientation, plastic beauty, single mothers working and taking care of their family simultaneously. As well as adressing several society issues like domestic psychological abuse, sexual assault, bullying, dating-sexual abuse, suiside - i can seriously go on. Sounds pretty heavy already?

Well, you can rest assured, it's not. It centers around Ho Goo, an adorkable character and his crazy life full of coincidence and absurd situations. His first love reappears after 6 years but this time she has a secret and everything just keeps getting more and more tangled from there.

The drama actually comes off as way too cute, even fluffy. It relies a lot on comedy but this is exactly what i loved so much about it. The perfect blend of absurd and hilarious coincidences that might make you raise your eyebrow a bit, together with the severity and intensity of all those society issues that people tend to turn a blind to. The drama is a perfect mixture of melodrama and comedy, one of the best i've watched. It starts focusing on comedy and it gradually turns to darker themes without losing its funny spark.

I have to admit that the characters were a little difficult to warm up to. The whole drama actually was hard to get used to. The characters are ridiculous, the situations are bizarre and they take some time to become likeable and feel real/acceptable. The drama gets drastically better after the midway point and it gets seriously addicting too. The main reason i don't rate it higher besides the warming-up-to-the-characters and the unreal coincidences parts, is that i felt that they over-ridiculed a few very serious matters and it felt borderline offensive. However, this was the best way to showcase them without making it too sad, appeal to a larger audience and still send a few messages along the way.

I have only positive things to say about the acting. It wasn't exceptional but it was satisfying.

Choi Woo Sik, exceeded my expections, but i doubt i even had any coming in. He was hilarious and absolutely adorable. A perfect fit for this role. Uee's performance was spectacular, she aced her dramatic scenes, more than anything else. Lee Soo Kyung needs more roles. She was entertaining beyond imagination. Im Seul Ong was another pleasant surprise, his performance was realistic in a questionable character, and always amusing. The whole supporting cast was amazing.

Overall the drama is not the masterpiece of our time, but it's definitely worth checking out. It brings something old and something new together and the results are commendable! I'd recommend this to everyone feeling like watching a significant but still light rom com. Rom com fans will enjoy this immensely, while melodrama fans if you ever feel like something more light-hearted than usual, this is a great choice.

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