Reviews

a very sweet and relatable show

I have an older brother who is similar to sang-tae from this show. I actually identified with gang-tae this show so, so much. For this reason, I am very greatful this show was made. It brings awareness to a unique family dynamic and the struggles of not only combating mental health issues but also being a caregiver. However, it seems the show hit too close to home and that's why the ending left me dissatisfied. It felt like gang-tae was relinquishing one responsibility for another.
I come back here because I recently watched Twinkling Watermelon, which reminded me of this show. It is great to see such amazing kdramas handle disabilities and mental health so well. Oh Jung Se acted incredibly and I believe this is his best work.

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Best example of Worst Drama about Mental Health

I waited patiently and reserved my final judgements towards the show, till the end just hoping that they will do something or deliver a different message towards the end.

Sadly, what a great disappointment this show turns out to be.

If this is how they (Netflix, production companies, director and writers) intend to do a story or talks about mental health then this show would be a good example of worst demonstration of mental health.

There are a lot of elements I can live with but there are a few fundamentals I just can't.
a) Colour used - from the interior of a psychiatric ward to the colours of the nurses uniform.
*I think "It's Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)" demonstrated or educated some of us about the importance of colours in the topic of mental health. In most times, Red (red related colour) suggests ignites, power, energy, aggression, fire - probably the last colour you want to use in the psychiatric ward? (I read in Netflix IG, Director's got this inspiration after visiting OB/GYN clinic, I was speechless reading that).

b) Medicine = answer to mental health
I can't help but noticed from the start, all Doctors in the show kept mentioning medicine, just take your medicine and you'll be fine! Let's have a few words with your family and ta-da! you're all fine and well again! Or let us transfer you to another hospital! Are they serious? The last straw for me was ep8 when the female lead finally realises her depression. From there, doctors and people around her just kept asking her to take medicine, keep to a regular routine, write complimentary diary, and poof! you're be fine and okay again!

Don't get me wrong, the narrative in ep9 was great, perspective from a nurse turn to a patient, I was looking forward how they going to go from there, it was a really good angle (rejection from your family, forcefully admit you to a psychiatric ward, how no one really 'listening' to you when you're at your most vulnerable time, everyone tries to tell you 'what's best', because they are the 'healthy people'? )
but it seems like..nah, there's nothing to write about it from there so let's move on to..Love!

Utterly speechless. Till the end no one around her helped her to really overcome her depression or helped her get a closure from the incident. Hence I do agree, her depression will relapse for sure.

Then that's how they end the show - Just remember to take your medicine and fall in love! and that's your Happily ever after!

Honestly if they want to do another rom-com, just do it and have mental health as a side/support plot.
It's disgusting how they handle this and very disrespectful, very.

I am now rewatching It's Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)
to see if I'm really biased or I should take admit myself to a hospital and start taking pills too.

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a lovely comedy series

Middleman's love is a Romance series which has a stronge comedy center plot, Jade is a whimsical and adorable character that is able to captive us from the first episode, honestly couldn't stop smiling while he was on the screen, Yim (the actor playing the role) did an incredible job expanding the depths of this lovely character we met in Bed Friend Series, can't wait to get to know Jade story better. For Mai I must say that Tutor' (the actor playing this role) charm is irresistible, he also did an incredible job in this role, Mai' foxy-like personality is intriging and engadging to watch. For the series plot I must say that is something cute to watch, can't wait to see all the funny chaos in the next episodes. One thing I must warn the Bed Friend series (show that is the prequel of this one) watchers is that now we are seeing the world through Jade' perspective, so we see the other characters through his perspective as well, for that reason Uea and King appear to be more child-like/ chaotic-like due the fact Jade percive them this way. Honestly, this show is adorable, we are only in the first episode but is something to hold on until the end.

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Boston is the winner kkk ?

In a show where the word love is misused because it hardly exists. Everyone is just on for a good duck. All of us be ashawo haha.

Boston makes it on my list of beloved characters. Of course in real life I would not wish even my worst enemies a Boston in their lives haha. But got to give to the guy he stayed true to himself, he was an a***hole through and through and unapologetic about it. That’s what we call consistency haha. Too bad someone was hell bent on taking him for who he is and supposedly loving him no matter what.

I loved Sand. I adored Ray. I cared less about the other couples. These two were the only reasons I kept watching, the reason I’m giving this “interesting show” a 9. My fav couple they were not perfect but whatever they had was so much better. Sand was perfect for Ray. Ray was a douche sometimes but he quick to realize his mistakes and seek out Sand. Unlike Boston the Ashawo, who even had the audacity to f someone while on a date with his bf.



Spoilers
I sympathized with Nick. I get it all he wanted was love, but he was looking for it in the wrong person. The only time I was genuinely annoyed with Boston was he forged a lie to hook up with Top. But I didn’t blame him much for breaking Nick’s heart because he at least had the decency of telling Nick so many times before that he would not give him what he wanted. He was honest with him, he told him he is an ashawo and was not willing to be anybody’s bf. It’s Nick who insisted on sticking around. At first I thought all Nick wanted was to be loved, so I was happy for him when some one, Nick’s showed genuine interest in him and was even willing to be his bf, but Nick only had his heart set the ashawo.

I never bought into Top and Mew’s love. First of all I was annoyed by how Mew’s so called friends were so eager to get him laid. Was like let the guy be, he will get there himself when he wants to.

Anyhow going into the show I knew exactly what I getting into so not gonna complain about any of the “interesting” stuffs.

Everyone is an Ashawo in this series 😂.

Most problematic lines/ scenes for me.
There were so many of them as expected
But this one’s stuck with me.


Mew telling Ton: I’m going to finally sleep with Too because I’m afraid he will get bored of me I don’t.

Ray wanted to have a threesome with his bf and his bf’s ex. Was like this show has gone too far with fan service.

I predicted that Sand and Top were also going to kiss haha since I saw everyone was kissing everyone it didn’t matter whether or not they’re “dating” other people.

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Unspoken Love

I'm still fairly new to the BL world, so there are lots of dramas that have been recommended that I haven't watched.

I've seen Singto in Baker Boys and know of Ohm (but not seen Bad Buddy yet!). I love supernatural stories so thought this might be interesting, but that was all. I was surprised as the acting was great and the story was clever with lots of fun and angst.

I didn't expect the ending or the flirting that happened then!

What I liked: Ohm's acting was great. When he was cute, he was great. When he was angry, he was great. When he was in pain, he was great. Outstanding scenes for me were the coming out to mum scene (brilliant) and the confrontation scene with grandpa.
Also, a younger, lovelorn Chimon was so sweet. His character felt relatable. The scene where he confessed made me smile and I was hopeful it would turn out OK.

What I didn't like: scenes where Singto was pouty were cringey and unnecessary.

Overall, it hooked me in and I had to see it through to the end.

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Hell hath no fury....

Nov 2023

TW: Sexual assault, suicide references

Very fast paced, violent, bloody, with a couple of real "OH!!!" moments.

The background story is provided whilst playing out in the present. The character of the Ballerina in question, Min-hee, is sweet, quirky and never came across as weak, but an incident in her relatively young life proved too much.

I got a strong feeling that the seemingly lonely girl she befriended, Ok-ju, actually loved her. There was just something in the way she looked at her at times.

That friend, an ex bodyguard with no ties and seemingly nothing to lose, takes up a challenge left by her friend and, basically, WW3 breaks out not long after!

At its heart this is purely an action thriller, not deep or realistic. However, the seedier side of life that Min-hee gets tangled up in, over the last few years in S.Korea (and elsewhere), has proven to be all too real, in one form or another. That makes for a very uncomfortable and quite sickening watch at times.

In many ways it's also quite a satisfying watch, especially when the main characters are women who take no 5hit, are tough, capable and exceptionally determined.

My brain didn't even have time to register when things got OTT, because it was too busy being stunned!

Jeon Jong Seo, as the Best Friend, Jang Ok Ju, was superb. God she must be fit, as it was a very physical role. She rarely smiled, wasn't noisy or overly emotional, yet neither was she miserable, depressing or emotionless. Her immediate reaction to loss was very real to me.

Kim Ji Hoon, as Choi Pro, is an actor I've come to love. He is so much more than his looks and unlike many actors, isn't typecast, so when he appears, one doesn't know if he's friend or enemy. He has no qualms taking on really unpalatable characters, or sweeter, fluffy roles.

Whilst adding a little dark humour to proceedings, which I like, at the same time I found the weapons dealers suggested to Ok-ju by her ex-boss, to be a bit daft in terms of what they were offering; was her ex-boss trying to get her to fail?! It didn't sit right, even though it was amusing. Great supporting role for Kim Young-ok, however. I love this senior actress.

There were references to corrupt police and powerful people in this, but they were not seen or, more annoyingly, held accountable, as is too often the case in K-dramas and film. That, as usual, irritated me.

Overall, it felt like a very quick watch and, I felt, quite different in its story and vibe; but it certainly won't be for everyone.

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Best romance show I've watched in my entire life.

I usually don't write reviews but here I am writing one because of how amazing this show was!! I absolutely loved how well-written the story was from the plot, setting, flow, characters, and everything else.

PLOT: I LOVED the tropes included in this show as they were all my favourites (childhood friends to lovers, height difference, sunshine and sunshine protector, introvert and extrovert, etc.) and I truly believe it was all written perfectly. There were no "pointless" scenes whatsoever and everything felt like there was meaning and development included.

SETTING: I liked where each episode was placed, especially the episode where they went to Kyoto because of how beautiful everything looked. I feel like it emphasized their feelings and made the story more deep.

FLOW: I loved the flow of this show a ton and it's one of the main reasons this is my favourite romance show of all time. It wasn't rushed, yet it wasn't too slow and it progressed at the perfect speed all the way to the very end. Not rushing the story let us understand what the characters were feeling and it felt like the creators put a lot of effort into bringing the reality of how people feel when having a crush on someone into this show with care.

CHARACTERS: Last but not least, the characters of this show were awesome! Every single one of them from the main characters, best friends, family, and girl characters were lovable and unique in their own way. I believe there were many moments where you could relate to them (eg. Kakeru and his lack of self-confidence) and even if you haven't experienced their situations before, it lets you empathize with them and feel the same emotions (eg. Yamato having a one-sided crush on Kakeru for more than half his life).

At first, I thought I wouldn't enjoy this show as much when I watched the first episode but the more I kept watching, the more and more I became obsessed with this show and couldn't wait for the next episode to release. Until I watched this, Bad Buddy Series was my favourite romance show and I thought nothing could ever surpass it but Kimi Ni Wa Todokanai (I can't reach you) got to the same level as it for me!!

Please please please try watching this show if you haven't as I promise you you'll have the best time of your life!

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Much better than many hyped cdramas out there

In my opinion, 2023 is the year of mini cdramas, because, with "Miss Mystery", we had another mini cdrama that was much better than several hyped and large budget cdramas out there.

An interesting script, great chemistry between the lead actors and a story that makes sense, at least to me.

The mood of the drama is dark, mysterious and sexy at the same time, so I think that anyone looking for a cdrama in this style, "Miss Mystery" is perfect.

The FL is an anti-heroine, and I love it when FL's are like that, because generally cdramas like to infantilize women and make them exist just for male validation. At the same time that she is strong and powerful, she also had the chance to experience love.

I like it when female characters are simply normal, able to move between vulnerability and strength, and not just be "cute" or just "independent". Women can be several things at the same time.

Furthermore, the story, despite being short, delivers a good conclusion. I really liked it, and I will definitely rewatch it at some point.

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cute, but got boring in the end

This will be a short review, cuz there isn't much to say about this cdrama

if i'm being honest, i only decided to watch this cdrama because of Miles (Zhe Ming). I don't really like Xu Lu's acting (I'm basing it on her dramas that I've watched, but I have nothing against her, she looks sweet and gentle).

And the drama is actually quite interesting. FL is a hard-working, creative, and a determined woman, who is not afraid to move heaven and sea to achieve her goals. She is very admirable.

ML is the typical role that Miles usually plays (he needs to change a little, choose different characters), although I think this time, he is a more mature and charming character than the usual.

Despite these interesting points and the fact that it is an office romance, which is one of my favorite tropes, this cdrama failed to be a good experience for me.

Due to the excess of clichés that I already know after watching so many Chinese series and combined with the tepid and boring last chapters, this cdrama became another forgettable one among the many we saw this year.

Furthermore, I really liked the friendships in this drama. I really LOVE that the FL managed to have male friends without the cliché of them being in love with her. Thank god the writers discovered that men and women can, in fact, be friends.

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I'm very happy with the outcome!

I like the idea of the main character accidentally (?) turning his life into a BL fanfiction. It's silly in a good way and also feels new compared to other stories. I would have liked it more if the plot showed more ambiguity about this matter, but seeing Iwon worrying so much about it and being so weirded out by Jioh was still lots of fun to watch. Seeing both of them bicker and seeing their feelings for each other grow was quite nice! At some point I couldn't decide whether I wanted Jioh to have some peace of mind, or I wanted Iwon to panick even more. It was just a very entertaining dynamic overall.
The second couple had a less animated plot, and while it was good to see their peaceful moments, it was also a little harder to follow, all because of the untold information that was only revealed to us viewers little by little. Sunwoo and Yugyeom were adorable together despite this and managed to deliver a very sentimental and romantic performance.
Overall I wish the plot was developed a little more - maybe with more episodes, or with longer episodes. I feel like it didn't have the proper space to "breathe" fully and lead to a very satisfying ending, but I can't say I disliked what I got at all.

The only thing I really disliked about this drama was the sound mixing. I watched this on Viki, so I'm not sure if this is just a problem of that platform alone, but the sound was VERY quiet, with some parts significantly more quiet than the others in the same episode. I had to work with my volume settings a lot while watching. On top of this, the audio quality wasn't very good, both in terms of lines and in terms of ambient sounds.

I guess it would be hard not to mention the original Why R U in this review, but to be honest I'd rather not compare them. The production styles are very different from each other, the plot here went through major (unavoidable) changes, and I also still remember how there were problems during the filming of the Thai version because of the start of the pandemic.
All I can say is that I have a soft spot for the original, and that I believe that this rendition was very good at giving justice to the plot. I was also very happy to see the little tributes to the original series here and there (first and foremost, Max and Nat having a cameo in the first episode).

In conclusion, I recommend this drama to whoever is looking for something cute and fun to watch, that also isn't too demanding both in terms of engagement (the story is very easy to follow) and in terms of time (each episode is about 20 minutes long if we don't count the theme songs and the recaps, so it's very easy to binge-watch).

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Must watch 2023 drama..

This time tencent has done a great work with production of wonderland of love. WOL can fulfill any type of thirst of a viewer.... The pacing of show is fast and what I like most is how male leads have most screen time that s why there is not boring moments.

The acting and chemistry is on point between leads. Although this is a quite tragic story because of many deaths but it has a happy ending and little comedy to lighten up overall story...

In terms of story, acting, cinematography and from every aspect this drama exceeds my expectation.
I hope upcoming project of Xu kai are as great as this is...

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Amazing Lakorn

I'll be honest: I've been part of this huge world of Asian series since 2016 and this was one of the few Lakorn that I really loved.
From the whole story of Ying Ying and Noina's friendship, to the "adventures" they went on to somehow get their true love, it was simply INCREDIBLE. Korn is too cute and Pat is the typical playboy friend who falls in love.
I loved and was angry with all the main characters, which is something I personally like, as it shows that all facets of them have been shown.
I highly recommend this Lakorn to those who enjoy a story of pure romance and friendship.

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If you like poetic justice this drama is not for you

For me, this is one of the worst dramas I’ve seen so far. It triggered me in so many ways. The amount of unnecessary cruelty, stupidity and injustice in this drama is overwhelming.

FL’s whole family was killed for no reason but for dramatic effect. For the story itself it was enough to kill off parents. At least one brother should live. But, no, writers decided to kill them all.

ML is lying and manipulating FL, hiding things from her from start till the end, and she is OK with it, no problem. That is “love”. SML (with ML’s support) makes her cripple in the name of “saving her life”, and she is OK with it, too. Nodding and smiling like “yeah, he saved my life”. Would you be? What if she didn’t meet miraculous doctor? If she stayed that way, would she be ok with it then, too?

Princes is in huge amount of power over FL and SML, and she uses this power to break their engagement, to bully FL, to humiliate FL, but everyone is ok with it, no problem, keep going. She is toxic, yet, she was never questioned or self-reflected, or punished for her wronging. That suggests to the audience that people in power have right to do whatever they want without any sort of responsibility and punishment for wrongdoings. Nice message, authors. You should punish her for being ***, instead she got loving husband, happy life, child and nice people around her to treat her nicely. And she got death at the end, so she didn’t have to deal with loneliness and despise due to a fact that her, also disgusting grandfather, was a ruthless traitor.
And to add insult to the wound, FL now has to live with princess’ son, telling him stories how good person was his dear mommy, while she was one of 3 most disgusting characters in the whole drama. Nice going authors! Your sense for justice is … blah.

This is entertainment. Not real life. I expect to, at least here, have some sort of HE and poetic justice, since we can not have it in real life. We do get HE, but not poetic justice.

So. What I’ve learnt from this: 1) read spoilers so you don’t have to waste your time with stupid stuff like this; 2) check authors of the drama before watching so you don’t have to waste your time on their nonsense again; 3) drop it the moment it starts to annoy you with morals that don’t correspond to yours.

Thank you for reading. All the best to you.

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Platonic friends-to-lovers BL, quite disappointed by the acting

I'm quite dispappointed by this BL series. Friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite trope, especially in an high school setting. On paper, this series had everything for me to like it but unfortunately I did not appreciate the drama as much as I would have wanted to.

The biggest flaw of the series resides for me in the acting. It was honeslty very lacking, there is not that much chemistry between the two main males leads and both their acting feel very green. One is really too much overacting and on the contrary the other one tends to not show enough emotions and downplaying everything too much... It is a blessing that their romance stays very platonic because the tension is not there, it felt already awkward as it was, so I'm pretty sure than more skinship would have make it worse to me.

The soundtract was good with a very catchy ending song (which was maybe used a bit too much but that I enjoyed nevertheless each time it was played). The production value of the show was pretty good as well with some nice school moments very well captured.

I would not recommend this to people because I feel that are better BL stories out there. If you really enjoy japanese school life drama and/or friends-to-lovers trope, you might want to give it a go. It is mainly the acting that decreased a lot my enjoyment of the show and appreciation of it is pretty subjective afterall.

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made it to my top 5 favorite modern cdrama

I’m obsessed with Wei Zhe Ming these days and I love fake dating/marriage trope, so I started this drama. I don’t regret it at all, I loved it. I don’t understand people saying they don’t have chemistry, for me they have amazing chemistry and were literally perfect for each other.

I liked it from beginning to end, no breakup for the main couple and a perfect ending. Made me laugh, giggle and smile a lot :) When a drama makes me tear up from happiness, then it’s one of the good one for me. It was interesting when I finally understood the title of the drama, it was not only about her comic but like he represents « perfect » and she’s « casual » ;)

They added the usual « love triangle trope » with people who have one sided love for the leads, which I usually hate, but it wasn’t that bad in this drama. They didn’t drag it for to many episodes like often happens in drama. Mr. Meng was mature and back down when he realized they both liked each other for real, was happy for them and thought they were perfect for each other. For once, I didn’t really hate the second lead (he annoyed me at first but it became better), he was understanding and his presence made funny scene and got ML jealous to finally sort out his feelings. For the girl who liked ML, I love that he was clear with her and when he didn’t agree to hug her

This ML was the best, a green flag, a great husband and was so good to her even when they were in a fake relationship. I loved it when he was saying he was her husband. One of my favorite ML ever

The main couple have great communication, they don’t let misunderstanding happen or drag. We could also see the development, like their kiss started awkward, then shy and finally more passionate kiss.

I love the grandpa and their relationship with him, I was tearing up in the last ep, glad we didn’t suffer his death (even if we know it’s coming)

The secondary couples weren’t bad either, I was happy for her sister, pregnant and everything. They are a good match too. For her friend, it’s more an open ending, I wish we could have seen them reunite.

I recommend this drama. I think for a modern romance drama and this kind of plot, 24 eps is perfect, not to many dragging plot or episodes like dramas with like 30-40 eps sometimes have.

I feel empty after finishing it this morning, but now it’s time for « Perfect Marriage Revenge » episode 5 ahaha

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