Reviews

Really good

Very gripping and interesting! Is it like a thing on mydramalist to rate really good Japanese dramas really low? This drama is one of those really good ones that need more episodes.

But with 4 episodes, they have managed to tie up the whole thing really well. They didn’t show everything they could have, had this drama had regular 9 episodes, which I wish they did!

Kamenashi kazuya did a good job as male lead. Hotta Mayu was just super adorable and acted really well. You can never go wrong with choosing Kamikawa Takaya in a role. All the others had good part to play and did their roles justice. They needed more screen time together! I wish they do the unseen cuts sort and show us what happened once (spoiler down).







he was rearrested, and how others helped.

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So much peace my anxiety is cured

This was a very nice, peaceful and refreshing ride. It's very slow and there's not much happening, but it's far from boring.

Here are stuff I really enjoyed:
-On's change of character. In the manga, he is a very cheerful kid, who's excited about everything from the beginning and he's very expressive, so the exact opposite of On in the drama. I like this version better, I think they portrayed well a teenager who's lived in a big city his whole life, without making him a spoiled brat. They kept his curious and thoughtful personality but it's more subtle and realistic.
-Their relationship with their parents is so refreshing. I was expecting them to be the tipical strict parents who'd try to force their kids to live according to the plan they had for them and then realize at the end what they truly need for their happiness, but instead they were supportive from the beginning and amazingly gentle. The scene where they share a meal all together and when the mom comforts On about his choice of life almost made me cry.
-The food, obviously. it's not the first time I watch a japanese drama where food is such an important topic, but there's something about this one that not only made me hungry, but it also made me want to cook for my friends. It makes you want to take your time cooking and really enjoy the making process.
-Yui's presence is much more important in the drama than in the manga, and I think it's such a good thing. You can really see how him being there helps On throughout his journey of learning.

Room for improvement:
-The whole speaking to animals thing. I'm not sure because I watched it in raw and I'm not fluent in japanese yet so I might have missed something, but I think they said that as a tengu he could speak to animals, yet we only hear the dog speaking. I would have loved to see other animals step into the picture, even if it's just a little. Also, There were no real conversations with Mugi. Most of the time, he's just making small comments that don't have any impact on the characters or the scenario, and I think it would have been so nice for him and On or Motoi to have some real conversations. It would have deepened the meaning of being a tengu, for us as the audience and for On.
-Motoi's lack of reaction at the end. Although he is has a calm personality and tries to keep a poker face all the time, we can see clearly how On's presence's moves him emotionally. So, it would have been great at the end to see how really touched he is by On's departure. It could have been a nice final touch to the connection they built since he showed gradually more of his vulnerable side as the show went on.

Overall, it was super sweet and I can't wait for season two to air!

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one of best young chinese female actors tackle new type or role

My Journey to You (2023) - 9/10 - C-Drama
This drama is a fascinating blend of Wuxia, with a strong emphasis on mind games, intrigue, and espionage, interwoven with romantic subplots.

Though I'm not typically a fan of this genre, there were moments when it felt reminiscent of a Chinese Game of Thrones or the anime Basilisk—albeit with less gore and fewer sexual scenes, as expected from a C-drama.

Both main female leads delivered stellar performances, despite the challenging nature of their roles, which were unlike anything they had tackled before. They truly excelled.

My rating reflects the overall experience. While some episodes felt average, the series as a whole grew on me, culminating in a compelling conclusion. However, the ending was more open-ended than I would have preferred.

Plot
In brief, an assassin sect seeks to uncover the secrets of a renowned rival ancient sect. They decide to have their female assassin spies infiltrate as potential brides for the new clan leader of the rival sect.

Genre
Wuxia, Romance, Intrigue, Espionage

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Strong female, thrilling story and nice romance

__*The Double*__ - 9/10 Historical C-Drama
Let's begin with the aspects of this drama that I found less impressive.

For the identity swap to be plausible, the drama assumes an implausible level of blindness in both the audience and the characters. It's reminiscent of the scene in The Simpsons: "Homer? Who is Homer? My name is Guy Incognito." The female lead merely assumes a new name without altering her appearance and reappears just weeks after her supposed disappearance, without any attempt to disguise herself.

Now, onto the commendable parts.

Everything else shines. The actors, many of whom were unfamiliar to me, delivered stellar performances. The female lead was particularly well-written—a strong character without falling into the trope of a Mary Sue.

The story was well-crafted and suspenseful. It was so engaging that I found myself binge-watching all 40 episodes, eager to uncover each new twist and turn.

The romance? The chemistry was palpable. While it wasn’t the best I've ever seen, it was certainly compelling.

__*Plot*__
The female lead is a married woman whose husband, a court official, along with his family, tarnishes her reputation and buries her in the mountains. Remarkably, she survives and is rescued by a noble young lady who had also been grievously wronged. Unfortunately, the cost of this rescue is the young lady's own life. The female lead then assumes the identity of her savior, vowing to avenge both herself and the noble young lady.

__*Genre*__
Historical, Romance, Wuxia

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My last time watching series about bullying?

I watched this as it's recommended by my younger brother and I had little hopes. And my hunch is correct. Now that I finished ep 1, I decided it's not for me. My brother really enjoyed it but as for me I have many complaints. Like any other shows about bullying, i hate when the main character does not immediately fights back the moment the bullying first starts or just transfer schools, or tell your parents, or teachers. I hate watching them get hurt many times before taking any actions. Like my God, just one punch to the face to make it even and just transfer schools! Maybe because my standard for shows like this is Weak Hero Class 1 and that one is so satisfying even just at ep 1. This one is like same stories with other bullying shows but just a little bit fancy twist like having a nonsense game to justify or decide who should they bully. So many students who are eye witnesses to such bullying and no one decides to step up. So unrealistic! maybe because where I grew up, this type of issue is never a problem. I asked my brother for spoilers if the bullies will at least suffer the same amount of physical pain the main charc experienced by the end, and he answered "No, it's more like a mind game not action". That's why i decided that if there is not at least one bully who gets punched in the face and have their teeth flying in the air by the end of the show, then I won't continue watching it, just a waste of time. This show isn't for me who hates same old dumb reasons why the mc can't find back the very first time they got bullied. No hate to the drama I bet others really like it like my brother, me personally, am just tired of this kind of story flow. To those who experience this kind of bullying at school, please fight back or tell your parents, no harm with relying on your parents for this kind of thing.

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A Wonderful Story of Loneliness

What I am astonished is how others see series. As of late, South Korean BLs can be a ‘hit or miss’. Some are profoundly impactful while others are full of trite and mundane storylines. I found this to be simply brilliant while others found its ending cliché. For me, that was the most endearing part of this series. I have lived a long time and as trite as that behavior was portrayed, I have seen and witnessed this behavior in my life more times than I can count to many of my gay friends. It is called ‘jealousy’ and it is indeed a very ugly emotions that makes both males and females do awful, damaging and destructive things to others. And unfortunately, I do not think that emotion will ever diminish. This is a wonderful story, really. It is a story of loneliness but told with such compassion and tenderness.

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One of my comfort dramas

Maybe a little bit bias because this is one of my comfort dramas, but if you are someone who watch k-drama to sort of just unwind, you might enjoy this one. Honestly think this is one of the best feel good dramas. It's heartwarming, adorable and healing. Sure there will be moments that you'd cry or feel sad, but there would be much more moments where you'll smile, feel touched and happy. (and healed? hahaha)

I just finished re-watching it now so I feel empty again.

Also if you are a fan of Shin Hye Sun, you might enjoy this one. She's such a great actress!

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when is 2nd season coming

Damn the cliffhanger that it left is on, I want more information on everything and everyone especially zouey and his boyfriend and his reaction in how he works out zouey was raped and that is his reason for not wanting sex with anyone. Zoey was my favourite as he seems the one that is easily hurt from others so have to be gentle with him. I was not expecting that ending with him being involved in his friend's death and him covering that from his fiends.
Nont/Nant, well done honestly as his coming shook everything up exposing everyone's true nature and how he changed throughout the investigation and what it meant to him. The raw emotions were executed with perfection making me really feel for him.
First was so misunderstood by his father and as soon as he did wrong he is called out for it without him being heard. He is vulnerable and weak like everyone else but tries to hide it by constantly want power and sex.

Now everyone else I didn't see the need for them as they were confusing and irrelevant to the story especially nuth and his boyfriend

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This is a story about three sisters who are at the border age which ends with nine. Hachi is 19, Nana is 29 and Muuchan is 39. The drama focuses on how they tackle their career , romance and their family. It's a very simple story but they way they execute is what it made it so special, atleast to me. You can also consider this a coming of age story but for adults and that's so refreshing because we rarely get those and as someone who's just turned an "adult" now, this hits a home. Basically if you want a feel good drama about adulting this is it.

But the drama has so much more. It primarily follows Nana, who has focused on her work so much that she cannot give time to romance or her own personal time and how she meets Kotaro who makes her love herself for who she is.

The reason why the romance in this drama is so dear to my heart is because it follows three couples and I love and root for them all because the drama gives the same perspective to love in all these 3 three couples. The feeling of being enough around each other. The feeling of being able to accept oneself around the person you love. Being able to laugh around one another. It portrays love as soon gente and tender. The love they shared made all 6 of them realise what they are, what they truly need. It's a beautiful story.

Another wonderful part this drama did well was the sisterhood and the family bond. It was so beautiful to watch. These amazing women trying to make a career and to find themselves through the support of their loved ones was too beautiful that it made me cry a lot of times.

Also, each episode consists of an OST segment which was a fun thing to add. My favourite ost is definitely Romantic by Sekai no Owari. It suits the drama well.

Overall, a new favourite! A must watch if you enjoy Japanese slice of life and it's got a stellar cast and mesmerizing writing.

Ps - ofc I'd give it a 9 lol

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Still In progress

This drama is interesting so far. I look forwwrd to new episodes each day.

Acting -I can say that I have watched a lot of costume dramas and I would say so far, the cast are doing a great job. Probably a little critic on SML, he is a bit stiff for me and also the ML. I have watched a lot of MLs that can do justice to this role. At first i felt he was doing great but now at episode 12, I am hoping for more from him. This is my first time watching ML in any drama but I've read that this type of drama is what he excels at. As for FL, i think shes doing great for a 21yr old acting as a 18 year but a soul of a 38 year old. I can see that this role suits her. I look forward to her character development in each episode which is wonderful to watch. Her character is complex and her textured acting is killing it in this role. She is still so young doing a big role and I just hope this will help her grow for future costume drama roles.

Story- I am still waiting for a bit of action. They are still stuck with the husband, and the wife scenes are getting a bit boring.

Music - I am not a fan of the music for this drama, but how the sml and the fl having the best song during their scenes just baffles me.

I just hope from episode 13 onwards the story will pick up. This is still in progress so my score may change once I am done.

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Stagnant Love-Story & Too Many Cliches

Okay. So I was in the middle of the 5th episode of the series when the "Lead1 sees Lead2 with someone else, misinterprets (because the scenario is set up like that), feels bad/hurt, and backs off without clarifying" scene was forced unnecessarily into the story (and not for the first time), and made me lose interest completely. I had already been losing interest because of various reasons:
1. The relationship between the main characters was stagnant, and not going anywhere.
2. The various attempts at humor, barring the first few, were not humorous at all.
3. The acting of the leads, though overall decent, became horrible at times. Like when Phupha's body closes down when he is facing a crowd.
4. I watched the prequel Phupha | Nanfah before watching this series, but I was disappointed to see that most plot and story related details shown in the prequel were not used here. It made me feel that I would have been better off if I had not watched the prequel.

After watching the above mentioned scene of the 5th episode, I have decided to drop the series, and give my rating and suggestion based on what I have seen so far: You can watch it if you are okay with repetitive and uncreative plots, and a stagnant main storyline. If you are not okay, then skip this one.

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a lot of deviations from the source material...

?The Good?
I read the original webtoon this is based on and enjoyed it a lot. so I was happy to c that there was gonna b a series adaptation. So the set up is somewhat interesting. The acting is great for the most part, tho ML seemed awkward at times. Honestly, I don't think they casted the right actor for the role... Ahn Bo Hyun is good, but this role doesn't fit him well.

?The Bad?
So, half way through, I noticed some inconsistencies with the webtoon story, the whole thing where ppl around the FL get sick once they know she remembers her past lives. wth? and I've read some spoilers that in the end she forgets all of her lives and lives on? wth as well? idk... knowing that, this story becames some basic childhood friends to lovers story with the extra steps of reincarnation. the tango thing is cringe as well... idk. wish they stuck to the source material.

5/10 cuz first 5 ep were decent and then.... down hill. dropping on ep 7

so overall, im just disappointed with the adaptation. If I haven't read the webtoon, maybe this series would have been better but unnecessary drama is just ehhhh.

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unwatchable. Ahn Jae Hyun deserves better....

?The Good?
Nope. Not a single decent thing about this.

?The Bad?
Man I dropped it so quick. Everyone is just unbearable..... How are there so many episodes? Why is Ahn Jae Hyun always playing in such terrible shows ? (I mean... Cinderella and four Knights is easily one of the worst shows I have ever seen) and finally, why does this series feel like a 2004 kdrama? We r in 2024 btw... the plot had a bit of potential but as soon as I saw the first episode, I realised that it's not sth I'm gonna b watching. even if u turn off ur brain, it's still unwatchable...

When I started watching it, it was still airing and the rating was above 8. Now its 7.3/10 which is still too high for this.... everyone should be financially compensated for watching whatever this is.....

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