Reviews

Someone decided to make a Kdrama out of Tokyo Revengers, Steins;Gate, Erased and Your Name combined.

So someone watched Tokyo Revengers, Steins;Gate, Erased and Your Name and decided to make a KDrama out of these shows and I love it. The plot sounds simple, and in a way it is simple and generic, in terms of the time travel trope. I think the brilliance lies in how this trope is executed; after all every kdrama utilizes a subset of the already established tropes and what makes the memorable ones so good is how the trope is utilized and made effective. Perfect execution with the best parts of the shows without the drawbacks of each of them. However to understand what elements of each and in what linear combination, give rise to this show, you will have to watch it for yourself!

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A remake surpassing the original in length

The Korean remake of the Thai Bl original is surpassing in all aspects you can think of the original pruduction from Thailand. Comapred to the Thai production the Korean production is straightened, slimlined and on the point. The Thai production dragged on and on and seemed to lead into ... I don´t know where. It looks in retropective to me, that the Thai Bl needed nice boys of all kind to get a wide enough audience to get their advertising (productplacement) done.

2 couples and their struggles to get to each other is by far enough.

I like the professionality of the Korean productions to be honest and prefer them. And I really hope that the Korean BLs don´t become such a mass MeToo, fangirl catching, klick baiting, low level production.

The cast: great
The acting: plausible and good
Storyline: straigthened and slimlined, á point
Directing: good
Rewatch value: top

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Very enjoyable, great performances.

This was a great little movie. Note that it starts off in B&W, but switches to color shortly. While in large part a comedy, it deals with a few serious matters also, and does so very well. The performances of the two leads portraying each other were superb, in my opinion,...their mannerisms, vocals, and responses to different situations. Side characters were present, but not really developed much. I think this was the right call, as the time was much better spent focusing on the two main characters. I tend to really like Japanese cinema from the early 80s, and this somewhat quirky little film epitomizes it. Thumbs up.

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Women should not rule the world.

The Legend of Zhuohua is another in a string of recent female empowerment themed historical romantic dramas. The production is upfront that this drama is a work of pure fiction. It is impossible for women to exercise the kind of influence and authority portrayed in this story in ancient Chinese patriachical society. The attitudes and values articulated are also incredibly modern and unsurprisingly, resonate with current audiences. It should be enjoyed at face value accepting that many aspects of it are sheer fantasy.

Titular character Ma Zhuohua flees an arranged marriage to the capital; where she must pass the imperial exams to fulfill her ambition to be a female official. Quick witted and resourceful, she saves Lord Ding, a decorated war hero, when he is wouded in the middle of a clandestine operation. Their fates intertwine as he is the strongest advocate of opening up scholarship and official positions to women. As they collaborate on official assignments and work toward their shared vision of the country, they fall in love. Can their relationship navigate a feudal system that requires women officials to choose between marriage and their career?

The most enjoyable arcs of this drama are the early courtship ones. This is the first time I have enjoyed Jing Tian's playing such a clever, demurely mischevious and independent character. Despite a ghastly white color filter and not the best dubbing, the strong chemistry between Jing Tian and Feng Shaofeng is unmistakable. It is so refreshing and very hot to see such a candid, lively and purely adult relationship dynanic laced with flirtatiously racey dialogue. The humor is very well written and so cheekily portrayed that I laughed uproariously many times, and especially at the dirty jokes. The political commentary and philosophical debates are surprisingly well written, with a sophistication beyond what I would expect of a light romantic comedy like this.

Outside the empowerment theme, the sub-plots are not special but this top notch veteran cast is very charismatic and executes so well it makes up for some of the lack of originality. Both Shi Yueling and Wang Likun in particular deliver formidable, almost terrifying performances as Empress Dowager Zhou and Princess Roujia. I also found Roujia's complicated relationship with Shen Jinghong very interesting. Unfortunately just after the mid-way point, the narrative rehashes tired plotlines including noble idiocy, murder most foul and high treason. In quite a similar vein to Destined, it nose dives into a poorly designed political melodrama and predictible twists. Even incredible acting cannot paper over that this is yet another delusional ends justifies the means antagonist with an unconvincing villain origin backstory.

This would have made a much better 20 episode drama that ended on the intended message that women should seize their dreams. The writers took it one step further into women can also seize the world. And then left us with an unambiguous message that women should not rule the world. The first few arcs of this are worth about an 8.0 but the latter arcs are just 6.0/6.5. I can only give this a 7.0. Its still a quality production with some good laughs to pass some time but it won't rock your world.

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Very sweet, slow-burn (even though only 5 episodes)

Almost perfect!
The acting was awesome, very natural. Both actors were nuanced in facial expressions, tone of voice, and body posture. It was a joy watching them interact as their characters.

The show had a positive message and multiple thoughtful and memorable quotes.
There were a few comedic moments that made me legitimately laugh out loud.
Music was unremarkable, but didn't distract either.

The story felt a lot more rushed in the last episode than it had in the previous four episodes. For this reason, I wish they had made it six episodes. The ending wasn't completely satisfying because of this, in my opinion, and brought my rating down. I think it still has high rewatch value though.

SPOILER ABOUT ENDING:
... ... ...
After all the tension and build-up, having their first *mutual* kiss at the end interrupted left me feeling frustrated and disappointed, lol. I wanted that sweet resolution to go with the relief and happiness.

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Drama of Delight :)- UPDATE !

I only watched 4 episodes, yet I decided to write a review about this entertaining and positive drama. This drama brings a smile to your face:)

The chemistry between the main characters is absolutely terrific, and most of the scenes are about them - I assume they won't be able to live without each other soon , as Ml is always looking for ways and excuses to be with the FL :)

I'm just hoping for a happy ending now , because the drama is about time travel, PLEASEEE at least not a tragic one! . This drama came to me unexpectedly and made my evenings more pleasant. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

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UPDATE:
Here's my short summary of the drama :)

- The female lead was the most annoying, fickle, indecisive female protagonist I've ever watched this year.
- I kept watching primarily for the male lead; he was the redeeming factor.( i think I dropped this drama 5 times;)
- The antogonist was the most evil and handsome I've seen and I found it unrealistic how quickly he turned from good to evil
- At the beginning, I gave it a 10, but I must correct it to 7.5. However, I'll round it up to 8 for my patience in watching it until the end and for the ML. LOL

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I shake my head and roll my eyes throughout the drama - Messy and Too much going on

If this were a full-length drama, I would have given this a less than 5 rating. I am going to be a little more forgiving as this is a low budget drama. But this drama still cannot be compared to another web drama, “Provoke”. “Provoke” is so much better.

The plot here is ridiculous and full of plot holes and unrealistic ‘twists’. They try to jam too many things into this short drama. I think a fake/contract marriage + enemies-to-lovers + revenge should be more than enough. But no, they added politics. The acting is decent, and the leads are a good-looking pair. The chemistry is pretty good in the beginning but the leads got together way too early and then the chemistry is gone. We do have a couple (not enough) shirtless hot abs scenes, but not passionate or good kisses (FL needs to work harder). The cinematography and production value aren’t that great, more on par with “Maid’s Revenge”. I am blinded by the super bright/white backlighting and camera flashes.

I can’t help but shake my head and roll my eyes when watching this. The good-looking male lead and the pretty female lead are not enough for me to recommend this drama. I have to force myself to finish watching. I enjoy watching this LESS than “Maid’s Revenge”, even though it’s about the same quality. So, I feel I need to rate “My Everlasting Bride” a 6.5 and not a 7.0.


Completed: 9/19/2023 - Review #356

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One of the best movies with a excellent acting I've ever seen!

I am unable to be interested in watching movies since a long time. I watch like 2 or 3 movies a year but I could watch this movie in one go. The emotions and acting made me cry a lot throughout the whole movie. The main lead did an awesome acting (I want to say this 1000 times) , I could feel his emotions deeply. The little girl also slayed her acting. Not to mention the whole supporting characters did very well too. The story was very well written. I'm not good at writing reviews but had to write it anyway cause it's too good! Thanks a lot to the whole cast and crew of the movie! I found this movie a very inspiring and motivational.

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One of the best, heart wrenching drama of all time

I’m giving the drama a solid 9.
The story and plot is a mash up of multiple xanxia-verse so there isn’t much of an element of surprise on the plot but Cheng Yi oh boy Cheng Yi is a gem - His acting carried the show. The pain, anguish, regret and suffering portrayed looked sooooo real that I feel like Ying Yuan myself. He’s such an incredible actor that successfully made pain even more PAINFUL than it already is. I must commend that Yang Zi, despite her bubbly and girl next door image also did a fantastic job alongside Cheng Yi. The scene with her damaged and bleeding foot at the river destroyed me. Whyyyyyy??
The drama wouldn’t be as impactful without the stellar performance of our ML/FL. I think they’ve given all the characters justice.

What I love -
Brilliant first class acting by both leads!! We can hardly get performance like this anymore as they’re too many newbies in C-Ent and good looking actors/actresses without the real acting chops getting casted
The development from Ying Yuan and Yan Dan 1.0 vs 2.0 version of them - both have grown, mature and learn to love more u conditionally, so beautifully
The parallels between Ying Yuan & Tang Zhou/ young Yan Dan & demon Yan Dan - love how the tables were turned as they learnt the importance of living for yourself (for YY) and duty and responsibility (for YD)
The precious friendship between Yumo and the 2 Leads are beautiful to watch.
How Zhi Xi redeemed herself in the end - I love the twist to it
If you forget you have watched Eternal Love, Love and Redemption, the storyline is acceptable
Sexy Xuan Ye daddy is soooo sexy

The bad:
Some of the supporting cast - not exactly their fault but there’s so much repetition with some actors so it doesn’t feel as impactful. This is like watching Love and Redemption 2.0 in a way.
The editing could be better. Felt that the last few episodes were too rushed and could be laid out better for viewers
Too much focus on anguish and pain to a point it doesn’t make too sense - Yan Dan is willing to die for Ying Yuan, gave him her heart (literally and figuratively), suffered for 800 years but she’s not willing to be with Ying Yuan 2.0 just because he once chose duty over her. Err?? Like you’re already so in love with this person that you’d give him your life, why allow your ego to be in the way for smt so petty?
The 2nd ML - Yumo’s character is interesting and could have so much more potential if it was better casted. His acting is stiff and awkward which made whatever he does for Yan Dan very forgettable by the audiences.

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Grooming has never been more romantic.

Do not take the title of the review seriously - taking it at face value would be as misleading as the premise of the show, that sounds so wrong, but the drama itself feels so right. I truly hope people won’t get discouraged by the student/teacher relationship and give it a chance, because this is so much more than just romance. It’s a weirdly heartwarming story of two people healing, learning about each other, but also exploring their own thoughts, feelings and ideas they hold.

What truly makes it work is how self-aware the writing is. For every flirting attempt and stalker behavior, we get a witted call out. All presented in the best dry humor I have seen in dramas for ages. Many scenes that would give you butterflies in your stomach end on a joke and it works so well. I’ve got a sense of: we know it’s wrong, we trust the audience knows it's wrong, but just watch and enjoy how cute they are. And I’m totally fine with it.

As I said though, this drama is more than just a romance. Every scene is drenched in hard hitting topic - suicide. Personally, I think the writing around this issue was done masterfully. Heavy issue presented in such a light manner. Quirky humor that made it more approachable, but never felt disrespectful. For someone who at some point in their life struggled with suicidal thoughts, many of the jokes felt just right. Not once have I thought they are not taking the subject seriously or just using it to make the romance more “angsty” (as many other rom-coms do). The story kept the heart and sincere tone, while also giving me some laughs . It felt refreshing.

The performances were what built the drama though. Hashimoto Ryo perfectly captured the idea of those who smile the brightest are the saddest - no matter how happy-go-lucky Haiba Jin might have felt, you could always sense the hesitation, unsureness and not yet completely healed pain. Takaishi Akari was able to somehow mix innocence with a strong personality and it created a cohesive persona that was Ochiai Mikoto. Both extremely loveable characters portrayed in a perfect manner.

Overall, surprising on so many levels. Completely flipped my expectations of what I’m about to watch and made me fall in love with the characters. Not only the drama is worth a watch, but also a rewatch once in a while.

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Mixed Japanese Take on the Lost TV Series

Going in a potential viewer needs to be prepared for a heavy dose of Japanese cultural behaviors. On the positive side the subtitles were excellent maintaining a high quality translation throughout.

The basic story is a Japanese twist on the old TV series 'Lost' with two commuting train cars getting catapulted into the future leaving the occupants to learn to sort out their communities and how to manage to survive. The focus is on one of the cars' occupants (car#5) with the other car (#6) becoming those other people eventually getting discovered by our main characters.

My biggest problem was the writer focused on the relationships to the detriment of the story consistency. A few flaws here and there are acceptable but here even big story line points are trampled on which pulls the viewer away from the story itself and the characters' development.

Fewer background characters would have made for a better plot development. There are just too many people sitting around not contributing to the plot line growth.

Anyone who watched Lost may remember the character Hurley who weighed in at around 350 or 400 lbs for the entire six seasons! (Also the Captain on Gilligan's Island which was a comedy so maybe more forgivable.) The meager food resources the people were finding would have meant some weight loss even for the few months they were stuck in the future. And the hair and clothes would be deteriorating rapidly. It is very distracting to see clean faces and hair styles along with clothes that appear fresh from the laundry episode after episode.

There are other problems not adequately explained. These people are occupying a gone wild landscape with only a few distant buildings intact. Yet they find an intact power generating station nearby. That still works! All the buildings, roads, etc are gone with no trace, and there's still a fueled working power station???!!! The writer would have been better off contriving something with those glowing rocks and a periodically appearing wormhole than to go the route that he did.

Once the occupants of car #5, our main focus and characters, discover the wormhole they don't tell the nearby group from car #6. And then when they set things up to try and return they still say nothing to them apparently intending to just leave them behind, which they do. Not a word of guilt or conscience either before or after they leave them stuck in the future dystopian landscape!!???

It was worth the one time but not rewatching.

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Good story with many twists and surprises. Enjoyable to watch.

The Legend of Zhuohua tells the love story of a woman who overcomes many trials to become a female official and a general who has weathered many hardships on his road to victory.

The acting in this drama is quite good, especially Jing Tian and Wang Li Kun. It has so many twists and surprises that it keeps me engaged with the story. I didn't know the story's villain was Princess Rou Jia, played by Wang Li Kun.

The death of General Liu Yan in episode 37 was a surprise, and I thought the empire would collapse because of the weak Emporer, Liu Chen (played by Zhou Yi Ran), but the twist was he faked his death and came back to help conquer the kingdom.

It was enjoyable to watch, and I gave it a 7.5 rating. I would give a higher rating if the production quality of the drama is better. What is up with TenCent when it comes to historical drama? They make everyone look so white, like ghosts. It was hard to see it on screen, and I wish they had used the natural skin colors of the actors.

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Typical story about older woman younger man love, nothing special.

Sunshine by My Side is a melodramatic Cdrama about an older woman and younger man's relationship. The story wraps around Jian Bing, a well-known divorced advertising director, and her relationship with Sheng Yang, a newcomer in the industry.

Sheng Yang met Jian Bing 10 years ago when he was in high school. He admired her and has secretly had a crush on her since. However, challenges in life are inevitable. Faced with their differences in identities and experiences, objections towards their relationship within their families, and rumors in the workplace escalating, Jian Bing and Sheng Yang finally decided to let their future play out over time. Three years passed, allowing them to grow and change for the better. Many of their firsts were spent with each other, and this trust they held and the experiences they shared back then went around and finally found them, making them gravitate towards each other again.

The story is nothing special, but I like the comedy aspect of this drama, especially the supporting cast, particularly Sheng Yang's parents, played by Yang Hao Yu and Wang Lin. This dynamic duo did a great job as supported parents who frequently bickered at each other but had a deep love for one another.

Xiao Zhan and Bai Bai He did a decent job playing the main CP; however, the plot is nothing special, and I think Xiao Zhan's acting ability was underutilized. I didn't like the ending of this drama, so I gave it a 7.5 rating.

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Could not get pass episode 5. Too slow, boring, and annoying background music

My Journey to You is a historical drama about Yun Wei Shan, a spy longing for freedom, who infiltrates the Gong residence to complete a mission and falls in love with Gong Zi Yu.

I cannot pass episode 5 of this drama. It is so slow, and the interjection of the background music is so much that it is annoying. The flashback between scenes is too confusing to follow for me. I like Esther Yu in Moonlight with Ryan Ding, but anything after that was so unbearable for me, especially the high-pitched voice that was her character in "A Romance of the Little Forest," which makes her dislike her even more.

I don't know how people like her acting; she has now been delisted from my favorite actresses list. Her onscreen chemistry with Zhang LingHe is not great either. I am dropping this drama and give it a 4.0

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A mediocre drama about life struggle with career, love, and family as they try to make it in Beijing

Incomparable Beauty follows 3 couples in their 20s, 30s, and 40s as they struggle with love, family, and career choices.

- Xu Yao and Yu Jia En (played by Chen Xiao and Gulnezer Bextiyar) broke up after a business failure and rekindled their love in their 30s as they reunited and worked to make it in the business world.
- Li Nian Huan and Zhao Ang (played by Chen Xiao Yun and Chen Xi Jun) are in their 20s, and their parents spoil both and try to figure out how to get their careers going doing what they love instead of the mundane jobs to meet end needs.
- Zhang Qing and Hao Chen Shi (played by Ada Liu and Zhao Da) are in their 40s and still single. Zhang Qing is a strong and successful single career woman who does not want to settle down to marry and have kids. She came to the realization that her loyalty to work backfired after she was mistreated by her boss whom she had worked for over 10 years after he found out that she was pregnant. It makes her realize that there is more to life than work.

The story is mediocre, as is the acting of these 6 main lead characters. They are good to look at, but their acting ability is nothing to rave about, especially Gulnezer. She can't act, even in the dramatic scene; she has no sorrowful expression. The ending is also stupid.

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