Reviews

UNDERRATED GEM

Sometimes it pays to scroll through the list of Kdramas, where I’m sure are many gems. Attracting and mesmerizing me was “Secret Love.” A side note: You have to be careful here, there are several “Secret Love” shows, so it becomes confusing. Therefore, it’s important to know the main leads. For this review, it’s a Korean version, 2013, starring Ji Sung, whose wife is Lee Bo Young-love everything she does-marvelous actress, Hwang Jung Eum, Bae Soo Bin, and Lee Da Hee. Like a lot of shows, it’s about class, power, and business marriages. Each actor displayed believable characters and developed them in each episode. Outstanding though, was Ji Sung’s role as Jo Min Hyuk. I’ve seen a lot of K-dramas and other movies. By far, watching Jo Min evidence the transition from lauding his power to having fallen for Yoo-Jung, is the greatest I’ve ever seen. His body language and facial expressions gave recognition that their relationship had changed. Culminating with him kneeling, as if to say, I see you, we are equals-realizing that his focus on her was twofold. It is definitely one for rewatching!

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The Beginnings of an Auteur

Its very weird watching As Tears Go By after seeing Wong Kar Wai's later works. His directorial style is very much in its infancy here: saturated colours, slow motion fight and chase scenes, shooting in the dark -- contrasted against more orthodox forms of camerawork.

The story itself is much more traditional. Being in the mind of the characters' takes a backseat to a formulaic plot about street gangsters. The ending is clear before we've even hit the halfway mark. But its set apart from the others because of its atmospheric love story.

What shines most here is the romantic atmosphere that Wong creates. And I don't mean between Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung (who are playing first cousins, ick). Its the passionate devotion between Andy Lau's Wah and Jacky Cheung's Fly that's the heart and soul of this film. Both men want the other to live a good life. To be safe, happy, and thrive. Their push and pull is painful to watch. They're like magnets and it makes sense that one cannot truly live without the other.

I absolutely adore Maggie Cheung - she's talented, gorgeous, and commands the screen. But she has very little to work with and is probably the thinnest of the characters in this film. Ngor suffers from being nothing but a love interest. Forgotten by the plot and her man, unless its convenient, and ultimately one of the most forgettable of Wong's female characters. If I had watched this film first, instead of In The Mood for Love, I might never have continued with Wong's filmography as I would have thought he's just terrible at writing women.

I'm glad I watched this -- even if it was just to see where Wong started and how he evolved for the better.

*copy and pasted from my Letterboxd review*

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Very fluffy, comforting BL, would recommend if you're done watching Eternal Yesterday

•Story
Very simple but adorable BL about a popular but anti-social person inlove with his bestie, an unpopular but outgoing sunshine. This story focuses on the confusion and flutters they feel inlove with someone for the first time.

•Acting
I've seen many people that I know that says that the acting in this drama is shit, awkwardness is off the charts and they dont have chemistry. Y'all have never watched J-dramas or something? They focus on realism and they're meant to be that awkward. It's how we act in real life. It's an incredibly rare occurrence in this daily life to see some kind of boss and secretary have THE sexual tension that K-dramas be showing. The male leads in this drama are still highschoolers, they're still young and innocent. So don't expect them to be the most seductive couple ever.

•Cast
Kentaro as Yamato and Haru as Kakeru is perfect! It's accurate(especially the height difference lelelel) Also love how they made Leo as Yui, the role suits him well.

•Music
The OST is so ?? I hear it like all the time now. The meaning is also really sweeeet(like 'I want to draw a colourful world and an expanding future together' AHHHHH) also is it just me or are their voices are like the PERFECT Japanese band voice?

•Rewatch value
I would totally rewatch this anytime I want. It's good to watch when I'm feeling sad or something.

•Overall
Would totally recommend if you're into these type of dramas!

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top-tier show!!

Tried watching this last year and dropped it by episode 4 because I couldn’t take the CGI seriously. I’m glad I got around to picking it up and trying it again this year.

The universe is huge. The story has so many layers to it and so required much building up. There were lots of things to cover and yet there were little to no plotholes at all. They started something and made sure to keep it up to the end. Though I guess there were some loose ends for me that I wish had more closure and explanation. I think Chinese dramas could do a little bit better with their minor characters arcs (or maybe it’s the subtitles that lacked better translation).

I love that everything had significance which unfolded beautifully by the end. My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time; I couldn’t even pick up my phone because I was just too engrossed. The story was fairly consistent to what they started and I’m so amazed by how they achieved this somewhat ambitious feat. The writing and acting were amazing (more so during their body switching!!), but I guess my only negative comment about it is the CGI. Hands down a top-tier show still though

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Strange but quite a good watch

This drama can basically be divided into three sections:
First section- episodes 1-9
This was bad.. the ML is your typical CEO, using his power to manipulate and mess with the FL’s career.
Second section- Epi 10-19
The storyline gets better, and now it’s clear the ML likes her, but I don’t understand why she’s hot & cold towards him? She will try to seduce him and when he tries to kiss her, she runs away? This whole vibe between them I found weird and strange, just couldn’t understand what the writers and producers were trying to achieve.
Third section- the rest of the episodes. So yes they get together, but they break up for about 5 episodes. Again, I couldn’t understand why, I mean yes the reason was because she used him for her revenge, but was it even that? I didn’t even get that in the beginning episodes. Maybe I missed it cos I did fast forward a bit here n there lol.

Anyhow, it’s not your typical romance relationship development, but the chemistry is pretty decent. Visuals of Dylan and Bailu are definitely on fire! I actually prefer the 2nd couple, but they didn’t have much screen time. 3rd couple was mediocre, boring development but Miles Wei was hot lol. Quite a few big stars in this drama, but I don’t think the storyline held up to expectations.

Should you watch? Yeah.. give it a go. Just keep an open mind and ff the boring bits ;)

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You will love to hate this? ;)

Actually no, you won’t hate this. :) It’s like the old-style kind of Kdramas, the kind I used to make fun of years ago lol.. It is quite additive watching this, so my suggestion is to binge- watch!

The storyline is pretty cliche, a typical revenge drama with a time travel twist. You have the evil stepmother and stepsister, and you will love to hate them. Somewhere in the middle your blood will start to boil watching each episode, but not to worry the good guys always win.

The chemistry between the main leads are pretty decent, and there is one really good kiss/ bed scene ;);) it’s a happy ending as well. So have a go at this and enjoy it :)

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It's cute and soft light heart story

This is my late review & 7th time i'm watching it
The story is simple and elegant love conveyed to viewers done by screenwriter, editor and cinematography
Casting the actors For this drama is wowww all the characters are well delivered their acting it's synced with story
All lead couples are have awesome chemistry they are delivered their acting in what the story wants
The 1st lead --Li Ge Yang [ Gu Yi Chen ] and Qi Yu Chen [ Zhao Nuan Nuan ] they are Cute coupes
Their Chemistry in love scenes in this drama is Mesmerising
For me this time stamp [ 16: 00--21:50 ] in episode 19th
These are all the above i like in this
You can also try to watch this drama worth to spend some time
It's light heart cute love drama,,,,,,,

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Breeze of love Nahhh more like harsh rainstorm.

Ok what was even this bl. When they first announced it's release I was really excited. It seemed like a fun plot but what I saw was a disaster. I feel the only saving grace of the show was the basketball, lee dohyun's eyebrows and the best friend.
The insomnia wasn't even explored much. They had major communication problems. Ban dongwook was weird. To me it almost seemed like if boy found another human sleeping pill he would have no hesitation in leaving lee dohyun. Also who the fuck goes around saying that they just want to sleep with someone.
And pleaseeeeee this whole "I am leaving you, but I won't tell you why but I do wish you understand me when I come to you declaring my love after years" Is overused now. Writers do better.
Props to lee dohyun I mean he must have loved pan dongwook a little too much because if it was me I would kick him in the nuts and tell him to keep finding the reason by himself.
All in all the show that could have been good turned out to be something that I don't even wanna remember. Hell I skipped through the last episode and somehow just finished it for the sake of completely a show.

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Nice twist

Don't expect all to find here a revolutionary movie, but does have a nice twist toward the end. You need to become a devil to catch a devil, although things never go as planned and you get burned and as well you make collateral victims.
Plenty of gore for those who like blood and violent movies and the main characters deliver their characters well.
I must say I do feel sorry for one of the characters, but it seems one of the mc's never learned his lesson from the past and revenge and catching the killers did blind sided him thinking he has an upper hand overlooking an important thing.
Others might not enjoy it, but this one is on my plate so yeah,
If to rewatch? Don't know, because for me this is one time movie because once you know the twist already loses its value for me.
It is the same type as forgotten. You see once and it is great.
Overall enjoyable, at least for me.

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a must watch for romance lovers! def one of the best bls out there!

Intro:

I am someone who doesn't particularly enjoy romance, especially romcoms. I enjoy genres like: action, thriller crime, etc. However, I can recognise a good drama regardless of the genre. This is one of those rare gems which you'll love even if you don't necessarily love romcoms in general.



Acting & Cast - 10/10

My first Thai BL was SOTUS so, Krist is an actor I hold in my heart memorably. However, his controversies surrounding his homophobia made me dislike him over time. As a queer person myself, I couldn't comprehend how people, especially those who profit off the queer community, can be queerphobic. I am not someone that believes queer character should be only played by queer people. A character is just a character after all. But the least you can do when you play a queer role is to be an ally. However, even though late, I've learnt that Krist has grown a lot over time. He has always been vocal towards his support towards the queer community. People, including myself, were quick to judge with only edited and limited resources at hand. He has said somewhat "rocky" things but has always learnt and grown from those mistakes. Krist is truly one of the few BL actors that loudly supports the LGBTQIA+ community online and offline.

Now on to the actual series, I never expected to see Krist and Gawin as a couple but it was an extremely pleasant surprise. Krist is an actor, who plays all the roles he is given amazingly well. He never disappoints when it comes to acting. Gawin is another great actor. I'm so happy to finally see him having a lead role. This was truly the perfect first main role for him, imo. GawinKrist's chemistry was insanely good. They fit so well together. I really hope to see more of them again, one day. I hope to see Krist in more BL roles (which is something he has wanted as well but couldn't due to his pairing with singto).

The cast was a perfect fit for all of their respective roles. Everyone was great at truly embodying and projecting their characters. This one of the best series in terms of casting and chemistry between actors.



Story - 10/10

The story was amazing. The story was very progressive, complex, and heartwarming. The portrayal of one coming to term with their sexuality was beautiful. I felt that they did a great job in showing the complexities of it. There was one thing that disappointed me. The only thing that disappointed me. There was a certain scene where there was an opportunity to talk about asexuality but wasn't. Asexuality is practically invisible in most dramas. It would have been nice to finally see some representation for those on the asexual and aromantic spectrums.

It was refreshing to see family dynamics that were complicated. Families that weren't just bad or good. The children had problems with their parents, faced disappointment but also showed the love between them. It felt very realistic and relatable to the majority in most parts. Every character's family situation was unique and different but also very similar. Most of the families in the drama were supportive which was so nice to see in BLs.

The characters all had depth and development. The best part of the drama was Kawee's character development. The side characters had their own stories which were filled with complex emotions and depth. I loved how the side characters' stories had satisfying conclusions too and weren't abandoned. Every character has their own unique struggle.

The fantasy/ supernatural aspect of the drama was very good. It all felt like a big heartwarming lesson on life. The time travel was perfectly woven into the story. It never felt unnecessary and it further showed each character's growth and made the ending even more satisfying. The drama showed how even the smallest decisions can have a domino effect and change the future. The best part was how after every travel, the characters grew some more. It was imperfect in a perfect way.

The romance was perfect. Kawee's and Pisaeng's growth together was great. I loved how healthy their relationship was. We truly need more representations of healthy relationships in dramas especially BLs. Almost all of the characters ended up being green flags by the end of the series. The romance and character development was paced so smoothly. It never felt sudden or delayed. The overall pacing of the whole drama was really amazing. It kept me wanting more and more, to the point that I am miserable now that the series ended.



Music & Sound - 9.5/10

The OSTs were actually so good. Krist and Gawin are really good singers. The singing parts didn't feel cringe or out of place, which is unfortunately something that often happens in BLs. I felt that the songs really portrayed the emotions and stories of the characters really well. This is one of the rare series I've watched where I actually remember the OSTs.



Rewatch Value - 9/10

The series was very memorable but I'd rewatch it just to be happy all over again. The fluffy feeling that I got from the drama will not fade easily. The drama had me all giggly and flushed, that wholesomeness is something I want again.



Overall - 9.5/10

I loved it! I definitely recommend all BL and romcom fans to watch it. Don't hesitate just give it a try and you'll even get some relatable advice from Max. This series is truly one of GMMTV's best creations. I need more like this!



Thanks for reading this far <3!

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The sky is falling but also WE

Face to face with the end of the world we can see how the world falling apart from the Main lead Masumi even before the world actually fall apart. The hopelessness in his eyes are align with his without pants body as he threw himself into the bed staring at the ceiling feeling a lot of emotions at once. I love how the actor is laughing in despair. He really portrait the hopelessness to the T.

I love the transition between the past memories and the presents time. The cinematography shows the scenery align with the feeling the characters Projecting.

For the Story i gave it 8,5 out of 10 Because it's somewhat original i haven't encounter the same story in BL and it's enjoyable however idk maybe because it's in Japan so people doesn't get that much chaotic but i think it'll be more realistic if the environment more chaos because it is the end of the world.

for the acting i give a 10 out of 10 for the Actor who plays Masumi. OMG he portrayed happiness, sorrow, guilt, hopelessness, love, will and courage with perfection! even his face during 'that' is convincing.

The kisses, i love how it's not just a peck or an 'angle kiss' it's real and feels real. and the 'encounter beyond just kisses' are a cherry on top to end the series.

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─ ‍artistic approach to the crime cases

I had watched many crime thriller dramas that focuses on talented detectives in the police station setting. Yet, Under the Skin is one of the unique ones that deliver a new approach to this genre. Before I started the drama, I had high expectations because I only saw positive reviews about it. After watching it, I definitely agree that it deserves all the compliments.

The story is actually quite captivating even from the premise. Overall, it is an interesting and binge worthy story ─ ‍ not with just cases as some of them might appear familiar but the way they deliver it from the eyes of a genius artist. It also has a smooth pace, doesn't drag the story unnecessarily. In fact, it is one of its charms that they know exactly where to conclude the cases and move to the next one.

Dynamics and acting are absolutely amazing ─ ‍you don't feel awkward or think any character doesn't belong there. They all have their roles and perfectly showcases it.

I also think the ending is satisfying and mysterious enough to set the vibe for the second season. This being said, I'm definitely looking forward to the next season and what they prepared with cases and characters.

link to edits : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxplWeBw3y5jgUu8espv5dPINyq2-V6RY&si=D4q8INvgXiU5lMQK

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Robert Durst voice....what a disaster.

I will never understand how this show fumbled the bag so badly down the stretch. I forgave this show a lot because I liked the leads so much and their romance worked for me. I tolerated the thin, slowly paced (non)plot, the potentially compelling but ultimately uninteresting supporting characters, the half assed fantasy world building, all because I was confident at the very least that the show would deliver a well earned and emotionally satisfying happily ever after, a baseline expectation for the genre. How did anyone think audiences would want to see a cute, silly comedy devolve into boring, mopey dreck and then end with a poorly executed unhappy ending. The writers should be ashamed of themselves.

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