Reviews

Thrilling, fantastical… murder?

This was a genuinely fun watch. Even though I think they kind of liar the plot in some of the middle episodes and it seemed super compressed due to the short run time, I thoroughly enjoyed some parts a lot.

I think many of the stories of the victims of the victims of Lee Tang’s murders had their story told phenomenally, in an extremely touching way. The narrative did a great job of getting us on people’s side, getting us to see things from others perspectives. Some of the stories were enough to make me tear up a little.

What I did think lost a little of v the magic was the chase sequences, simply because I think we could have embellished our fine detective with more than just a wonderful amount of facial hair. We only see the detective’s inner working mind and thoughts in the later episodes, and I would have loved to see far more of him.

Roh Bin was an interesting character. I was extremely surprised when Song Chan’s flashback sequence actually had me seeing things from his viewpoint.

All in all, enjoyable. I did thoroughly enjoy the ending sequence.

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Hoo Whee

Wow. This is rough. And I'm not talking about the subtitles.

The subs are bad, but I didnt factor them into my rating and they don't factor into this review. Aside from episode one, the subs are mostly understandable even if theyre still a mess. What really made me give this such a low score is the plot.

It's bad. No way around it. The characters are irritating but, more importantly, don't seem to know what to do with themselves or have any real incentive behind their actions. Prod likes Pleum because............????? Pleum is suddenly interested in Prod because.......????????¿¿¿¿¿¿ Sroi knows Prod because???? Pleum is jealous of anything that breathes in Sroi's vicinity because????? Pleum wont take no for an answer but immediately gives up when Sroi starts dating someone else because?????¿¿¿¿¿?????? It's all so aggressively contrived with no care for giving the charcaters any consistency. Throw in a mother who's sick with some undescribed disease (and coughing up blood because how else would we know she's sick) and you've got yourself the world's most boring series.

I wanted this to at least be unintentionally hilarious because bad subs really lend themselves to that sort of thing, but I watched at 1.5x - 3x speed absolutely stone-faced. I forced a laugh at one point just to see if it'd kickstart things, like maybe I'd forgotten to laugh and just needed to get it started up. Nada. Nothing. And the show is actively trying to be funny. But between every single character just reading lines (except Pleum, for whom all lines are overacted in comparison) and weird ass interactions, all opportunities to laugh just inspired grimaces from me.

Speaking of weird ass interactions; the story is tied to like one eating area outside a faculty, the SOTUS room, and The Bar. Bold, underline, capitalize, and italicize The Bar because that is the primary location of all things in this show. Prod works at The Bar. Everyone seems to go drink every night. Pluem frequently acts like an ass at The Bar. Sroi goes there daily with her friend-turned-gf. I wouldnt be suprised if Prod's mother moved into The Bar so they could shoot more scenes in it.

Lastly, the main CP have negative chemistry. I dont even have examples of this to give because its just inherent? Like, Prod has more chemistry with the guy who's obviously going to become a love rival later. He has more chemistry with Sroi, Pleum's ex. He has more chemistry with a random extra who asked for the flowers he was going to throw away. He has more chemistry with the extra who punched him.

Watch this if somehow all of the above sounds like a good time, but I'm tapping out. I really hope Kimmon gets something good in the future because I missed him since 2 Moons but not for this. Never for this.

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Meh...

It's a sweet, classic BL. Unfortunately in a post Bad Buddy world, that formula needs more than New looking adorable in a business suit to make it compelling. He does however looking AMAZING in a suit. Sing actually looks fantastic as well. Jan is crazy and hilarious as always, Tay is fine. Junior is totally wasted as Jinta, same as Mark as Min. They aren't given nearly enough time to establish anything believable and no one would be charmed by Jinta's being a complete spaz. The only honest and authentically touching moment is when he's comforting Min.
I was just a bored. I finished it anyway, but I'm not going to be going back and rewatching anything. I hate to say it, but I think its time for break up the TayNew ship.

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In light of a charming story, questionable values become (almost) irrelevant. (Part I)

I was pleasantly surprised by "Small Town Stories", an easy watch that left me feeling warm and had great pacing overall.
Not once did I think about dropping it (which I usually do with every drama, even if I like it) and I would even consider re-watching at some point. 30 Episodes went by super fast and there is almost no dragging or detours.
Similarly to "Rising With The Wind" it finds it's charm in flawed characters that are likable nonetheless and follows a small group of regular people achieving success through hard work as well as their journey in love. (not me almost making a AJTL reference, LOL - that drama really did a number on me)

Gao Zhiting (ML) is a great actor, he has natural charisma and an easy-going energy around him that makes his character feel real and three dimensional. The character is a bit rough around the edges and has traditional views on life, but nevertheless someone who is reliable in love. The event managing company he runs is very much living from paycheck-to-paycheck but their constant hustle to make a quick coin is endearing to watch and adds a lot to the comedic side of the story. Some of my favorite moments were the little steps of growth and realism of people working together. Hint: Naps are important but money talks :D
On the other hand we have the FL who returns to her home "town" and while she is dead set on returning to Beijing after healing from her Tinnitus, everyone tries their best to keep her in Weihai. Although it could be considered a flaw I actually liked that her problem was resolved quickly and nothing that dragged on. The leads went from strangers/enemies-to-lovers in a very natural manner, I liked how both of them never imagined to be a couple but slowly grew their feelings. Their bickering was funny and cute. The drama has a "character development" tag and I'd argue they mean them as a couple because the way they go from enemies to genuinely supporting each other is nice to watch.

Although I wasn't always a fan of her parents, I found both of them to be refreshingly youthful. Yes, they can bicker and nag but they're also funny and after a few beers both of them become quite chatty. Also high-key relatable how the wife reacts whenever the husband invites someone over and she had no idea.

In the name of making this a more realistic drama, beauty filters were kept to a minimum and a lot of the scenes are recorded live, adding to the natural feel of the story. I hesitate commenting on people's body size but I liked how the usual body shaming comments were absent in this drama and both leads have a slim but not super skinny figure. Having a tan male lead with a buzz cut is also not typical but so refreshing!

I liked STS a lot despite some underlying issues (more on that below) and would recommend it as it has a lot of charm without much struggle and an idyllic setting. A bit like "Meet Yourself" and "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha".
Overall it's a warm slice-of-life with great pacing, enjoyable chemistry between the two leads and a beautiful ending for everyone.
The biggest hurdle of watching this drama is choosing between watching it with bad subs but good audio(IQIYI) or good subs but muted song audio(YOYO channel). I opted for the later.

random fun fact: this is a dream for graphic-tee fans! I never counted so many graphic tees with random english words or paragraphs in a drama, loved that :D



PART II of the Review (Listing all the flaws and inconsistencies, SPOILER!) :

https://mydramalist.com/profile/9228969/feeds/xoE0KHl (clickable link in comments)

Unfortunately it was too long so I had to post it on my profile instead, feel free to read it if you want to know the underlying issues with this drama that I think need to be called out.

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Kdrama tropes galore, but still liked it

to be honest they pulled all the drama tropes in this drama but I still liked it - minus the kisses lol

so we had the angry driving then pulling to the side of the road - one of my favs lol
we had the looking after the sick person and the wipe down ofc
we had the moving in together for some unavoidable reason
one lead is rich the other one is full with debt
we had the evil ex,
oh yeah the toxic office workplace too
I surely missed a few more

I mean it is from a manhwa so the tropes are almost always there, we eat them up tho every time lol I am also totally guilty in that!

I feel like Cha Seo Won really liked the character, the brooding artist but was a bit butthurt about having to do it in a BL, I think that explains the kisses lol

I actually found the 2nd couple's story quite interesting, I am looking forward to their series that was announced! I loved Won Tae Min's acting in You make me dance as well and I feel like he had good chemistry with the actor there and here too!

All in all I was still really entertained
Love me some kpop boys in BLs!

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It was good though I did cry a few times

I cried multiple times watching this and it also made me smile and laugh a lot of times. I'll give it to them. The acting, OST, and Cast just made it better because I almost gave up on it, but I had to keep trying to watch it because it made me cry and it made me mad at times and it was just....wow. I loved the ending though we lost people. (idc abt Tony). I wish it was better but it was good the way it was so I'll give them that. The story was sad but a happy ending for most people. I had thoughts and hopes about Charlie and I felt bad for Babe and I was happy that they overcame the difficulties of Charlie's "death." I was also sad to see Way go, and I was also happy to see the relationship between Jeff and "Uncle"(Alan). They made me smile, they made me cry, and they also made me want to not watch it at times, but I overcame the pain, anger, and hesitation and I finished it. Yay. Though I did a late review and I finished it a while ago, I forgot to make a review. I was also mad, sad, and confused when Pavel and Pooh were over here posting happily on their social media even after making us cry. It was funny tho so I'll give them that....
Review, over. Love yourself. If you see this I want you to have confidence, hope, and a bright future. Don't give up because it could be what's best for you.

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Its a emotion driven story

this is a beautifully written story describing the life of a immigrant. Song joong ki 's performance was brilliant, choi sung eun was also good.

The first part of the story was brilliant , the things made sense, and the pacing, progression everything was amazing , but in the second part there were a few noticeable issues

one being the whole romance between characters, it felt a bit forced and not very natural.
(they went from being just acquaintances to lovers a bit too fast and a bit too weirdly ) iykyk

secondly. the pacing was weird in second half

but that is with problems

there were many good parts of the story too, the dialogue, screenplay, cinematography all were amazing they managed to capture the struggles and hardships of a guy in an unknown place with nowhere to go . Even the struggles and hardships of Marie were also nicely delivered .

If you can overlook the above-mentioned issues this movie is amazing and yes this is a tearjerker so take some tissues with you

ps. all the scenes of Kiwan and his mother are so good, everything about them was perfect , how without much of dialouges they managed to leave a great impact in the story I can just applaud them .

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Love for all!!

As someone who has watched the Japanese series recently, as in finishing it right when this started airing, this series is a watch I couldn't miss out on!!

As the anime and Thai adaptations were being released at the same time, GMMTV had to put the series for Thai viewers only. But did that stop some of us? NO. I watched this on so many websites that I've lost count. I WANTED TO SEE TAYNEW!!! I finished watching the JP version, started the anime, and started this all at the same time. It felt like I had deja vu.. BUT That's okay because this story may just be a favorite of mine.

This story portrays Achi, a average office worker, who suddenly gains the power of mind reading with any physical contact at the age of 30. Karan, someone born with everything, right? Except being able to make the one he loves, fall for him. Until.. Achi bumps into Karan and suddenly hears his thoughts. Karan, the best worker, most handsome, most popular, is in love with him?

TayNew will never disappoint me honestly. No matter of I've seen all of their series or not, they are the IT couple!!! There weren't many side characters that made me upset, surprisingly..

The side couple, Jinta and Min, are CUTIES!! I loved that couple in the Japanese one and I do in this one!! Mark (Min) is just a cutie overall and I'm glad to see him on screen. Although at times, just like in the JP ver, I had to take a moment before continuing the scene. Cringe but fun!!

This series overall was great, just like the Japanese series. If you need a wholesome love story, this is for you. I love TayNew and can't wait to see more series of them!!

P.S. the cat? CUTEST ONE OF ALL!!!!

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A warm hug. My comfort couple.

where to start? I have been watching kdramas for a long long time. so, now, the people who just started watching kdramas during pandemic don’t come at me. I have watched these two from the heirs, I watched them grow, oh it was lovely. Fans like me knew what these two used to be. PHS? he was always like this. charming, funny. Though I wasn’t his huge fan, I watched his dramas. He was this cute since he was in ZE:A band. He is sweet to his all leading ladies. Lots of people complained that he lost weight, he looked better when he gained weight. it’s annoying yk. I mean can’t we let them do whatever they want? I am used to seeing him like how he is now, slim. but I liked him when he gained some weight too. Since he joined the industry, he has been always like this. now let’s talk about PSH? Hands down. She is a queen. she was the first one who made me love kdramas. She was cute in he is beautiful and then the heirs, she made me fall in love with LMH. It’s funny these actors get hates these days. Seriously kids these days don’t know them properly. Literally these people took kdramas to the international level. -,- anyways back to the drama, I won’t say that it has the best plot. but the dialogues? you will love it. it calms your heart. few years back, even when the story wasn’t good, the actors’ acting was something that hooked the audiences like me. this one is literally like that to me. even if they just bicker and do nothing, it will excite me. this is how Rom-com used to be in kdramas. If you are not looking for something too serious, I swear you will love it. life doesn’t go as planned. it gets messed up when you least expected it to. this drama isn’t perfect and that’s what it makes it perfect to me. you will notice little details such as I watched today that Ha neul has her charger charging her phone while talking to Jeong Woo. I immediately got flashbacks of those days. I mean, we shouldn’t do it but we still do it, right? It’s so relatable and so funny at the same time. And I said this before too that if this drama has anything that’s top notch it’s their chemistry. I seriously never thought that Myungsoo (PHS’s character in the heirs) and she will be in romcom and they will have so much chemistry that will made giggle like a mad. Anyways, I have been here for a while, I mean in Mdl. It’s really sad to see people hating others for no reasons. My humble request is that, if you can’t say something good, don’t say something bad either. Your opinion matters, of course give opinions but stop with the unnecessary hate.

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Oh no...

Watch this after see someone on the feed make costume connection between this drama & The Deliberations of Love. While I'm quite happy with The Deliberations of Love story, but this one really disappointing...

Cause I'll gonna give SPOILER. As usual, the safe & what i like first.
+ The chemistry between Richard Li & Ming Jia Jia.
+ The intense story & plot
+ The cute fat little kids.

Overall this just another short drama to watch. Below is SPOILER ALERT!!! Read it with ur own risk.












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SPOILER ALERT!!!
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This short dama have one think I most hate about. OPEN ENDING!!! And unfortunately not a good one like Starry Love.

For me this drama is not end with sad ending but with possibilities of an open ending. If only they ended when Su Yan died, that's another story... But this.... To reverse the beginning and ending like this... Ugh!!! Scream Open Ending instead Sad Ending for me.

Really wish they open the drama with ep 19 instead just put it in the end. My suggestion for you who want to watch this, start watch from ep 19 first. That's gonna make the story a lot better.

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