Reviews

Has Its Demons, But Lives With It

Kamen Rider Revice is a lot of fun. Despite being an anniversary series, it can be easily watched without prior knowledge of the other Kamen Riders that proceeded it, with it at most showing homage to these past Riders in their suit designs. The story itself is mixed - it kinda drags, and some of the arcs that happen can be less engaging than others. But the interpersonal drama is very well written and the concepts of inner demons are approached in unique and interesting ways for everyone involved, keeping the show feeling fresh each time it touches on its themes. The midpoint made me start to worry about one of the important reasons I was interested in the series, but it came back around to being fun and enjoyable, with a great way to wrap up the end. The supporting cast is all very interesting and fun, with George and Ikki's father in particular being a highlight for me. The opening is SO MUCH FUN, with the music overall being good. Suit designs are really good, with base Revi being a standout for me. Fight choreography was great, and it has one of the most impactful fights in the entire franchise in a later episode. Overall, while it has some issues with the larger plot, the interpersonal moments are very good, I love how it went about studying its themes, and the combat is very fun to watch with it focusing on two Riders with very different personalities. Great stuff!

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So gOOOd It Exceeds Infinity

HOLY PEAK. This series is amazing. The gimmick of the setting is cool and interesting and unique, and on top of that it doesn't feel disconnected to the plot of the series like some other Kamen Rider belt gimmicks can feel. Eiji and Ankh have great chemistry together as tentative allies, Eiji himself is a great character who gets analyzed and comes to an interesting conclusion in the story later on. The side characters are all entertaining and each have their own fun reason to be around. The story itself is a great combination of lighthearted fun and introspective. The music, good golly the MUSIC. Each form having their own insert song and the OP being a fun and upbeat ska track gives this one a unique and great style to it. The suit designs are really fun, and the way they frequently swap between them mid-fights gives each combat a fun and unique feeling to it! Even the filler episodes related to Kamen Rider's Anniversary are a lot of fun! This one has it all, in my opinion.

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Good to watch

Good to watch
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Genuine Love can be obtained by discarding ones desire & ambition | Lots of unused plot devices!

The 2nd ML (Zhi Yuan) is the embodiment of this story's title "The Longest Promise"—he waited 200 years to meet his eternal love only to be told that Zhu Yan wasn't actually the reincarnation of Yao Yi. Tragic!!

I want to officially start my reaction by stating that although this drama is not as perfect and flawless as what the other reviews on this site states, I would still want to say that it is still fine on its own. The narrative wasn't as complicated and complex unlike some Xianxia dramas out there, however, I still think that they lack a lot when it comes to story telling. This drama has many plot holes, incomplete explanation of events and a handful of unused characters and story elements that could have contributed a lot to the entire story if they were utilized correctly and efficiently.

In addition, I wanna say that they don't know how to use the HYPE at all. There are a lot of impactful scenes that has gone to complete waste simply because the Director didn't use it wisely and intelligently enough. The video editing team was also underwhelming when it comes to connecting related scenes and events to make it look more emotional and convincing. Well, I must say that It still all lies on the director since I'm sure even the editors are following his lead and instructions.

Also, why do I feel like I'm watching a contemporary cliché drama during the last 15 episodes of the story? and their only difference is that they're wearing traditional Chinese costumes. Hahahaha!

Moving on, let me go ahead and discuss some of my favorite elements of this story.

First is most probably the contemplating attitude of some of the main group of characters. It shows how bad people, weren't actually deep-rooted bad, it's just that the people around them treated them terribly and differently that's why they learned and adapted to protect themselves from such people and circumstances—that it's only their defense mechanism for a chance of survival.

This drama also shows some great developments from its characters and I think it is one of the positive sides of this production. I feel like they never intended on making the bad people really bad so they gave them a redemption path which is a really healthy take for a story. I just love that the main characters didn't even care about the throne and power; and at the end, were able to find their own genuine happiness by letting go of their worldly desires and possessions.

Lastly, the CGI of this drama is really good specially the first few episodes. However, there are also times when you will get lost because of their magic powers, its effects and how it is visualized. I can't even believe that the most powerful spell was animated like it was just some normal type attacks. I was left baffled and underwhelmed during those scenes.

P.S. I waited and waited for my most anticipated scene which is to see Xiao Zhan dying out of jealousy but it never came! damn! I'm so sad... Hahahaha!!

Story - 9.0, I love that the imperial struggle wasn't the focus of this drama because I'm just so tired of it and I'm also glad that the initially introduced bad characters were given a redemption path to take. One thing that truly disappoints me is the wasted plot devices that could have made this drama even better if they were only used properly and efficiently. Let me also mention the rushed and terrible way they chose to conclude the story. Like... HUH? What`s that bullshit?

Acting/Cast - 10, I'm satisfied with the acting and was never bothered by anyone all throughout. Maybe because I already categorized this as an Idol Xianxia drama and it made me stop scrutinizing their acting that much. I'm also thrilled with the artists of this production. I admit that I was indifferent towards Ren Min at first but as the dramas goes on, I learned to love her too.

Music - 9.0, There is nothing bad about it in all honesty. I already expected it to be all melodic, full of humming, heavenly sounding and it did just what I expected it to be.

Rewatch Value - 8.5, This drama is fine. But I don't think I will ever watch it again. I just feel like there are lots of dramas out there who deserves my time and attention more.

Overall - 9.0, the drama's good. It's that the director wasn't able to fully squeeze out the beauty and capability of the story. Could have been better with a different director and team I would say. Nonetheless, I was never bored of watching it and I genuinely love the artists of this production.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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Lies get you different boyfriend?

To be honest I like the female lead but this drama was such a major flop! The concept of this drama was kinds cute.. until the boyfriend turned full on psycho and abusive.. hell no.

The female lead is a designer at a jewelry company, she is often looked down on and bullied by her co worker. She gets invited to a co worker bday party just to announce, that the annoying co worker has become the official designer instead of the female lead. She lies about being unwell and said her boyfriend is here to pick her up.
( backstory) - she gets a random bracelet from this homeless looking dude.. and basically her lies will come true...

So she lied about her boyfriend and he came to be. Once she used one lie, her bracelet's bead turns black, She has to make the male lead fall in love with her before she uses all her beads of lies.

Whats annoying is she wishes for different types of boyfriends but its not very obvious she wishes for them ( many i missed those parts because i skipped parts of the drama)

Im just like what the heck how can she likes these dudes.... first personality is the overbearing ceo, doesnt want her to do anything but be with him. Second is the milk dog, very sweet but too immature and clingy, third one is the absolute worse, he is a compulsive psycho , who's good at being romance but super controlling and becomes abusive...
Then all of a sudden the next bf personality forgets her...

This mini drama is trying to do too much.. A no for me. They barely have any chemistry because its a constant change or bf personality. Like the male lead has a good figure..... such a waste.

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Please Watch!

Kamen Rider Kuuga is a masterpiece. Godai is one of the greatest Riders I have watched up to this point. His chemistry with Ichijo is superb. The mystery around the belt and the appearances of the villains is interesting and actively studied by the cast. The personal interactions and drama are fantastic and heartwarming, and while they may be a mix of connected and disconnected from the overall interactions with the villains, they still are representative of Godai as a Rider and are emblematic to the story itself, meaning they don't feel shallow or fully irrelevant to the plot. Kuuga's design is simple but effective. The interactions of the villains with their own cypher language are fun and tense and interesting. Action scenes, while perhaps not always flashy and can be somewhat short, are good all the same. The ending is handled with an interesting, almost artsy grace that gives the story even more gravitas. The OP is absolutely stellar and the ED is comforting. Overall, a fantastically told story, one of the greatest Kamen Riders to date.

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A Good Entry, Despite Flaws

Geats is a clumsy story, but a fun one. With a great OP and an interesting concept, relating to winning a sort of Death Game to get a wish, it ends up being a very interesting form of Kamen Rider as they combat each other for the sake of winning. However, it doesn't stick with this concept the whole way through the story and ends up changing to focus less on the aspect of a battle royale and more like a standard Kamen Rider story. This ended up disappointing me somewhat. Characters have decent chemistry, though at times it can be somewhat flat and businesslike for a large majority of the series. Suit designs have great potential to be interesting as it begins with the concept of item pickups akin to a video game, but again it ends up being tossed aside for the sake of consistent, merchandise-worthy forms. Not bad forms, but considering what the series started out as, it ended up disappointing me a bit. Fight choreography goes really hard sometimes, especially when they use the show's gimmicks to set up specific opportunities that would not have been available in other stories. Overall, a story with a lot of potential that does unfortunately fumble the bag.

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Too bad comparing to the original story

The original story contained many great things. It was built upon a wonderful fictionary world of many events, which are connected with what we are seeing now in old books about Buddhism, or in many statues in the pagodas. It explains the true meaning of the scroll, and many hidden philosophies of the two parties: Jiang Zi Ya represents one party, and Shen Gong Bao represents the other one, and why they became oppositions, why many Buddhas have their animals to ride on (as we can see from many photos in the book or the temples or pagodas). The original story also mentions that a new Kingdom will be born and led by a new King. It is totally different in this movie: the new King will be the hair of the throne of the old one, who is a bad King (King Zhou of Shang / Di Xin).
It is too bad that the team could not keep the story as close as the original one. It turned out to be a very conventional story, nothing is special.
Maybe in the future, we will have a chance to see the original story in the movie(s) rather than a movie uses the characters and some events from another old book.
If you come to see a movie as someone who doesn't know about the original story, you might enjoy it because of the visual effects, actors, and music.
But for me, it is just a movie without a soul!

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the winged man and his wingmen

if you're like me and you were interested in this movie because you wanted to watch a matsuyama kenichi in love, i am happy to report that the concept is indeed as adorkable as it sounds. however, those the romcom elements do not start until literally 46 minutes into the 1 hr 45 min long movie, and they unfortunately don't stay for long. romance is the premise but not the point of this journey. these first 46 minutes are also straight full of matsuyama acting his pants off, and then you realise exactly Why he was hired 1hr 3mins into the film, so fans of his that understand his modus operandi will still find something to enjoy while watching even if you were romcom baited like me.

the entire movie had very noir-esque vibes with WAY more gore than i was anticipating for a movie branded as a fantasy romance. this gritty quality ends up being plot relevant later; and to complement them, the cinematography strangely also /looked/ humid??? besides the light, casual, summery costumes, almost all of the earth-based scenes take place in an okinawan shopping arcade, and there were hundreds of extras and constant parades of traditional okinawan performing groups. the movie was very visually busy and had a very cramped vibe, like these people were wayyy too close together and they couldn't tell if the sweat on their bodies were theirs or someone else's. imagine a baz lurhmann film shot on super 8 whose cartridge has been lost on a beach for three years, that's what this movie looked and felt like. it was impressively visceral but VERY asynchronous with the fantasy romance genre.

the patchwork nature of the story was unique and Might have worked in a 30 min tv show format, but in a movie it is not fun or quirky. it creates terribly awkward pacing and the effect of really lazy storytelling. honestly the whole movie kind of felt like it was different people's half-baked story premises that couldn't hack it as their own movies, so they were frankenstein'ed into one movie instead. (it's ironic that chasuke is constantly slamming his heavenly peers for their shitty 'screenwriting' when i very much am doing the same about this movie xD) i can confidently say this is not a movie i've ever seen before, but i also can't help but feel that that's on purpose

[SPOILER] the ending was TENSE and almost made the entire weird movie worth it if only it were executed better. it was resolved in a deus ex machina that i honestly wouldn't have minded because it could have been an excellent tongue-in-cheek reference if not for the extreme lack of payoff. unfortunately, i did not care about the characters' happy ending because i was not ever led to believe they wouldn't get it. [END SPOILER]

all in all, though, i think i'd rate the film higher if only it were marketed as a fantasy drama instead. my expectations were set in a certain direction, and since they weren't fulfilled, i'm rather disappointed. HOWEVER, i did enjoy myself and can acknowledge the movie for fully committing to the things it did well: maximalism, novelty, and matsuyama kenichi being Fucking Weird (complimentary).

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Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

There are a lot of good things about this - the acting is solid, especially from Hsiao Hung, who throws himself 110% into the role. His character can be a little OTT, but he pulls it off, and he has really good comic timing.

The story and writing are not the strongest aspect of this - it leans way, way too heavily on misunderstanding, which is a particular crutch of Asian drama. Shang Zhou's emotional constipation is well-supported, and it's clear his character was formed by an unloving mother, so I did buy that, but it's carried too far - there is a situation in particular that could have been solved by a "yes" or even a subtle nod of his head, and Shun Yu's misunderstanding of the situation is less explainable and comes off as forced drama.

This works well as a comedy, but the problem is that it veers to heavily into drama, which is tonally dissonant and none of the drama is sufficiently supported.

What might have worked better is to have made the mother a more central villain, and made her the obstacle that had to be overcome, rather than really stupid misunderstandings. That would aslo have made Shun Yu's "boss moment" in the final confrontation with her much more satisfying. It was very well-acted, and it was quite a moment to see him finally become confident in love, but if there had been more of a development arc to that point it would have had a larger payoff.

The interaction between the two as a couple at the end was some of the best I've ever seen in a BL, with both of them acting like men, and not shying away from affection, There's no sex, but the way they hug and touch each other is uninhibited and convincing.

I really hope to see Hsiao Hung again - he's really talented, not to mention beautiful and hot. That skin is like porcelain.

Anyway, there is a lot of frustration in the second half, but the payoff in the finale is quite good, so I can recommend this, although there are some parts you might want to ff through.

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Drearily dull drama

I gave a sigh of relief when finally Ep50 landed on our screen . No more of this family saga of cardboard characters with no backbones and with insipid smiles . I did not like it but wanted to see if it improved with the development of the story but it never did . It dragged on and on . There was no chemistry between the two main characters . Heavens know why they fell in love ! They stand apart and look at each other with languor , or sit side by side in their matching pyjamas pretending to be a couple ! Baek Jin Hee as Yeon-doo spends her time apologising right left and centre to everyone ! False humility becomes sickening . He , as Tae Kyung , lacks not only charisma , but clout and resolve to escape from the control of his family. Only the older characters as mothers and grandmother have a bit of fire in them . As to the villains of the play , they are so unlikable , you can't wait to see the back of them . A waste of time . Not re watchable .

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"Do you hear it? this sound, the flowers sound"

This is not a proper review just my first thought now that I finished it and without spoilers.
Just finished it, it didn't take me long to finish this wonderful drama considering how I had to pause it many times for a short moments to heal of the much sadness and furstrating it gave me(especial in part2). I was struggling to find a TOP K-drama recently, to add to my TOP K-dramas list, but I found what I was looking for here.
I always knew how great diverse actor NGM is, he conviced me in a psycho, evil, comedy, romance, melodrama and action roles. But seeing him in melo romance will always be my favorite, because his eyes say a lot that many other actors can't say with their mouths. He deliver his lines to us through his eyes before openning his mouth. His character here will be one of the most perfect ML we ever had.
AEJ, first saw her on HP she was great, but seeing her as a FL here gave her more space to show her talent, very proud of her performance, it's not easy to show that you're a good actress in front of NGM but she did it. YGC character is one of the best well written characters, she wasn't perfect she had many flows especially her actions at the beginning but she had great character developpement and she is a survivor, strong FL that makes hard decisions and bears the consequences.
The plot wasn't perfect, but it was the closest to perfection that I saw for a while now. It made me care, feel furstrated, angry, sad, happy... and that's more than enough. 10/10 For me.

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Imperfect Allegory Against An Imperfect World

Kamen Rider Black Sun is a work I highly admire, despite the issues it has. The story is intense and gritty, and it's very admirable of them to go so hard into the ideas of prejudice, classism, racism, and social justice. It feels like an important story to tell. However, at times it can get a bit lost in the weeds when it comes to its storytelling, with frequent timeskips and issues with pacing in its 10 episode run. There's some reveals later on that can lead to the story feeling confused, but still holding the spirit of wanting to fight against social injustice, which is good. The suit designs tend towards the positive - most of them look very cool, with some looking kind of goofy and pulling me out of the general dark feeling the series tended towards. The action, while sparse, is very impressive, and the gore and blood throughout is shocking and a fresh change from the mainline series only showing blood via makeup for the most part. The main theme can get a bit tiring to hear repeatedly, but it's a cool song and it still does feel satisfying to hear during certain moments. This is one of the series that feels least like it's trying to sell me a toy, that's for sure. It feels mature, but a bit uncoordinated.

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