Reviews

Very Good Show

I just finished watching Personal Taste, and it was such a lovely drama!

The chemistry between the leads was amazing, the comedy was genuinely funny, and the romance was sweet and heartwarming. If you're new to K-dramas, I would definitely recommend this as one of your first Lee Min-ho dramas. The first drama I watched with him was Boys Over Flowers, so it was nice to see him in a different role.

Throughout the show, I felt bad for the female lead because her best friend cheated with her boyfriend. It was heartbreaking to see everything she went through. I also found it very sweet that Jeon Jin-ho stayed by her side and supported her, even though they were complete strangers at first.

Overall, Personal Taste is a fun romantic comedy with lovable characters, great chemistry, and plenty of heartwarming moments. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light and enjoyable K-drama.

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A great drama based on the life of a real historical figure

Historical documents tell very little about this magnificent character but the drama was so amazingly written that you could easily imagine that something like this could have happened.

I really liked it. The characters were believable and stayed true to themselves throughout the whole drama, the plots and consequences were convincing and the romance developed naturally and nicely.

This would have been drama with 10 points but there some minor things that made me give the lower score. I won't list them all, but
there was a lot of cooking and a lot of cheming, the obstacles semes to follow a pattern, way too many episodes ended on a close-up of Jang Geum looking surprised or desperate, from time to time, the music was overly dramaticand and the ending felt a little rushed, and it was unrealistic for her to perform the operation alone first time ever and declare it a success only a few minutes after closing the patient up.

Overall, it was an amazing drama and well worth the time I spent watching it.

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The show is fake. You and I are real.

WOAAAAHHHH!! I was really not expecting that ending. I had read a comment on here a while ago that said to pay attention to both story lines because they were important, and I had that in the back of my head while continuing the series. I just didn't expect FC/GZ and ZX/ZZ to both be real couples. I loved how the aspect ratio changed to differentiate the movie and the actors. Everything about this show was truly amazing and I will be rewatching this in the future with my new knowledge of FC/GZ. I will miss seeing new episodes every Friday & Saturday, but I'm excited to see what the future holds for these amazing actors Ollie and Shuyuan!

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darker premise, but too much circling

Overall: 50 short episodes, vertical style. Aired on Lezhin Snack app (5 episodes per day for free by watching ads, except the last 5 which was super annoying)

Content Warnings: rapes (off screen, not between the MLs), manipulation, drugging, kidnapping, beaten up

What I Liked
- different premise
- visuals
- acting

Room For Improvement
- the journalist could have easily video or audio recorded something really early???, the plot circled a lot
- they needed more time spent in the past, I was confused why 1 character allegedly disliked the other character so much
- several scenes were too dark

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Blink and You'll Miss Something?

I’m honestly so shocked this movie barely has any reviews because it was SO GOOD.

From the very first scene, it just pulls you in and never lets go. The pacing is insanely fast, so there’s literally no time to get bored. Every time you think you know what’s coming next, something else happens. I was glued to the screen the whole time.

The main lead was definitely my favorite part. They’re so clever and always one step ahead, which made every scene even more satisfying to watch. I loved seeing how everything played out because they weren't your typical protagonist.

Overall, this is one of those movies that keeps you locked in from beginning to end. I genuinely couldn't take my eyes off the screen, and the two hours flew by without me even realizing it. If you're into fast-paced thrillers with an intelligent lead and constant twists, this is absolutely worth watching.

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SERIESNYA BAGUS BANGET PARAH!!!

Sumpah jd salah satu series dengan plot dan karakter yg gua SUKA banget. bkn cmn itu bahkan bnyk poin plus lainnya: mulai dari plotnya yg bagus bngt (tipe yg maju mundur tp sangat berkesinambungan satu sama lain, jdnya sebab akibatnya jls), ditambah temanya yg relateble dgn kehidupan saat ini (gambaran jatuh bangunnya sebuah hubungan dan pembentukan sebuah usaha), OSTnya juga masuk banget yg ngebuat momentnya jd lbh menyentuh dan bikin terbawa suasana, karakter dan akting yg TOP dibawakan oleh mereka yg jujur membuat gua merasakan sendiri kesulitan dan konflik yg mereka hadapi (gua jg suka bgt penggambaran hubungan trio namsan yg saling ada dan klop satu sama lain, ditambah dinamika percintaan segitiga sang dal-mi, dan terakhir yg membuat series ini mendapatkan skor setinggi ini adalah keputusan endingnya yg sangat tepat dan indah disaat yg bersamaan (ending yg diberikan dapat diterima oleh para penonton dengan baik sesuai berjalannya cerita berjalan).

lalu untuk kelemahannya mungkin hanya satu, yaitu antagonisnya yg kurang diperdalam dan lbh sering digunakan hanya sebagai di level pembuat onar bkn seorang penjahat yg menjatuhkan para karakter.

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The best

At first i didnt think double storys would work well. But it they really made it work. We really got storys in one drama The Second story also very good no blanks no open ending they really made a complete movie inside 12 ep it soo amazing. I really love how they separate two storys using screen ratio. And as audience we didnt get lost in the two storys. And the actors really outstanding despite this drama being their first major acting role. They performed really well. It was really some crazy raw acting. Also the intimate seens they really made t work without showing much skin it was really great. And i wanna give applause to the director this is one of the best bls ever. And the music idk how much is their budget but the thats some high quality music really good. And about the ending this might be one of the best ending such romantic cool ending. I really recommend this drama watch it.

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Firecracker flirting with still waters: a bromance

This was a casual but enjoyable summer watch for me. I'm a sucker for minguo visuals and was looking for a more lighthearted drama, and this one delivered. This is a classic story of a policeman and ‘special consultant’ developing a close relationship as they solve cases together all over Beijing. Yuan Hong is an illegitimate son of a warlord who joins the police to uncover the truth about his mother’s death. Zhao Shaoshang is a spoiled baby of the family of an ultra-rich cabinet minister in need of a friend and some growing up. Together they work hard to piss off everyone in the city who’s got something shady going on, which is …everyone;)

Some cases were more interesting than others, but at least they were varied and the investigations progressed in a believable way (not counting some interrogation scenes that were pure comedy skits;)). They have a common theme of appearing supernatural at first glance but turning out to conceal thoroughly human motives. The spooky parts of the cases were fun, I think they could’ve leaned even more into it. The cast was great! There were some really colourful and entertaining secondary characters.

The drama has a lot of lighthearted situational humour, which I really liked. I normally hate comedy sound effects, but the instrumental ‘laughter’ here was kind of infectious:) The main characters' interactions were very entertaining as they got to know each other and used that knowledge for teasing and jokes. Their friendship has depth and develops in a natural way helped along by great chemistry between the two actors. As you can guess from the title, this is an intentional bromance sparing no effort to let the audience happily ship the two together;)

As for the main characters, tbh, I had no chance of liking Zhao Shaoshang because (1) I’m allergic to screaming and his tantrums were driving me crazy, (2) I find this type of smart-ass characters annoying, especially when it’s paired with rich family privilege, (3) it took me a while to get used to Zhai Zilu’s acting, which seemed too exaggerated compared to the rest of the cast. He absolutely did grow on me as some depth and vulnerability materialized, and a lot of his earlier bluster turned out to be just a shield. I do appreciate that the drama didn't hesitate to expose his flaws. Ironically, I found his absolute pettiness and inability to keep his cool even under the tiniest of provocations quite endearing:D …if only he weren’t abusing my eardrums.

Yuan Hong had an interesting air of mystery and capability at the beginning, but the actor lacked charisma and presence to really pull it off. For the rest of the drama, he’s mostly a tolerant ‘still waters run deep’ type but rather one-note in emotional moments. If Zhai Zilu is a bit ‘too much’, then Ma Sichao is 'too little’, but they balance each other surprisingly well.

I hope season 2 comes next summer and keeps the same level of writing and production. The last few episodes switched to a more dramatic tone, so I hope the story goes back to the lighthearted and bromantic mood because that’s where it shines☀️✨

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A typical 08/15 low-effort GMMTV series...

As usual, a weak story, over the top comedy - which is not funny for me - and nothing of substance in the whole series. "Oh, little boy was rejected as a highschooler, because he was a nerd..." is also a typical storyline shared in this instance with "Crazy Love, Moo-Moo!" but it was at least less cringe. All the characters have the maturity of 16 year olds, but our MLs are way over 30 now which makes their characters unbelievable.

There is not much else to say, except that the talent of the actors is wasted with such a series... But the bots rating it a 10, will tell you it's the best since slice bread - oh, most US americans don't even know what real bread is. Regardless, it was a show with a huge cast, because GMMTV has soooooo many actors they need crumbs to get feeded something. Chemistry was ok, but not really convincing. When they are at fanmeets, concerts or even brand deals their chemistry is so much better.

Production quality was ok, but nothing stellar, compared to other GMMTV productions this was on a low budget just to feed the fanbase and that's it. It's mostly a waste of time and will bore you, soooo many shows are vastly superior to this.

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Really cute, but sloppy writing

TayNew chemistry is really on top, their interactions as a couple are so natural. But unfortunaltely they where the only good part of the show. The second couple was so confusing and boring that I skipped some of the their scenes, like I don’t know why Akki that we can see from the first ep that he hates homewrecker very much two episodes later is down bad for Veha, this makes no sense at all. Also I think Veha didn’t really had a redemtion arc or anything, he didn’t even apologized properly to Kanit. Also Toto’s mom was so useless as a plot point, like why was she even there? They didn’t even use this thing properly, like what was the sense???
I have to say that the story till episode 5/6 is decent, but then it became so boring nothing happened the last 4 episodes, it was just them doing nothing, I think the script wasn’t really made for 10 episodes and they just added random stuff to make it look interesting.
At the end I just stayed for TayNew chemistry, cause they were really cute. Also I didn’t understand the last scenes , like why they didn’t show us the all ceremony??? And the thing with the ppl getting like alchol poison ig, I didnt really get it, it was so random and non sensical.
Not the best TayNew series, but their chemistry was really good!

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A psychological study that shocked me.

I normally dont write a review but if mine can maybe get one person to watch this show I find its worth it.

Story:

Deep in explores the relationships of 2 complex couples in different worlds. One in real life and another in fiction. Gao Zhung and Fang Chi are a couple binded by the script but their story is equally compelling to the actors playing them. I appreciated how the story wasnt clean or without its complexity and moral ambiguity. The director gives it equal importance and time to explore its really dark issues that the show handeled very well. The story is told by side by side in mirrored themes and psychological dependecy. Zhe Xin and Zhao Zhun feel very diffrent both in set up and personality. As the actors begin to fall deeper into their characters their story begins to mirror the other and their minds become more and more fragmented. The direction does a great and subtle job of blurring the lines of what is real with the audience all the way from the aespect ratio, to smal lines of dialoug they say that could easily be missed. The story here is the reason to watch this drama, the audience isnt treated like children, the complexity gives the viewer alot to chew on and discuss and this was easily the most surprising aspect about Deep In. The ending so recontextualises the entire theme of the series in something I havent felt since seeing the Sixth Sense for the first time. It makes rewatchability a must.

Acting:

The acting is another reason to watch this show both Ollie and Shuyuan take on these difficult roles head in and without shying away from its provocative nature. While china has found a way around these restrictions, its still very risky to take part in explicit material But these two do it confidently and not acting scared. They remain 100 percent commited to bringing the characters to life and for being so young I see a bright future.

Music / Score:

Admittedly im not a big music person but I found it to be implemented well here i think the music really lends to expressing how the audience needs to feel during certian moments. Creating great atmosphere and tonally setting things up.

Direction:

This as far as im aware is a first time director and I think shines here, visually the show looks great even with is budget. I want to praise him for making the correct changes with the novel and adaptating it for a modern audience while still respecting the original works intention. He even contextualises these chages within the narrative so it makes sense and that is almost never done in any show. He knows not to shy away from the dark aspect but does soften them to make them a bit more digestible which I appreciated. The direction is focused and clear on delivering its concept while adding so much little details to mirror the scenes. He is the glue that keeps the series together.

Overall thoughts:

Deep in a series that surprised me more than I eever thought when it began and that depth isnt revealed right away. The show eases you into thinking its going to be one way but as they get deeper into filming. The more its complex ideas come to the forefront. Its a dark deeply sad show but I feel executed super well. The performances are wonderful and the NC scenes serve as important context, and they made alot of positive changes for the better. I hope you can give this show a chance becuse there is alot of fresh and new ideas here that make it stand out above the rest. I'll be excited to see what this director does next.

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Finally A General that actually General-ed!!!

Tbh,even though I have become a fan of Hou Minghao, this drama caught me like a pendulum... Should I watch it or should I not? Cause I was actually bothered by all the age gap controversy. Everytime I tried to imagine Aimi and Minghao together, I just couldn’t imagine them as a couple and their irl meimei-gege dynamics wasn’t helping either.

What actually pushed me to give this drama a try was Minghao and his excitement about his role as Xiao Wuyi. He worked really hard for this one. As his first role a a general,the fact that all stunts done beautifully by himself,the plot and everything....i just decided to put my doubt aside and started to watch it. And my oh my, I am so surprised to say the least. It was so good,I just couldn’t stop watching.

The plot had some cliches. A fearsome General,a love triangle,some villains, palace politics, amnesia etc. But what made me hooked was the way they executed everything. Given it had only 28 epis,so there was no scope for dragging. So there were twists after twists,plots were unfloding pretty quickly. And surprisingly, they actually summed up pretty much everything within that 28 episodes,not leaving much scope to become bored.

Now if I come to the acting.... Hou Minghao deserves his crown. What a portrayal of a great hero Xiao Wuyi,known as Demon General, who is ruthless,cunning,always one step ahead of his enemy. His country,his fellow warriors and their safety are always his priority as a war general. For them,he was even ready to rebel against the corrupted imperial system.And then comes another part of his character, the lover Xiao wuyi. This Wuyi is not someone very expressive,he believes in action than words. His love for Xie Jiayu started as a protector....later transformed into mutual respect and then love.But it was never dominating over her. She was always his priority, but in a subtle, protective way. Xiao Wuyi was a great character...who knows what to do and what matters the most. His presence was extremely commanding,intimidating yet so assuring for someone who needs him the most.

Xie Jiayu was his great counterpart. Being only a teenager,her early childish antics were bothering me a lot,ngl. But as the plot progressed and she understood the seriousness in her surroundings and shaped her accordingly,was good to watch. As Aimi was a minor,of course there wasn’t any kissing or intense romance. But the subtle romatic scenes,only by hugging or holding hands was enough to show the strong bond,partnership and understanding between these two. And Aimi understood her assignment and delivered like a pro.

My main headache was Li Mao-Li Lejun siblings duo. Even though they were introduced as some hopeless, sympathieser siblings... Their later antics put them in a very grey zone. Li Mao was so confusing, he was like couldn’t decide whether to be good or bad. He was Xiao Wuyis bestie who even put his life in danger by pledging for him in front of Empress Dowager... But later in every scene,I couldn’t decide whether to trust him or not. Lejun was the most frustrating one. Even though the motivation behind her action was to keep her brother safeby any means....Don't know if she deserves the sympathy. But I was looking forward to her lovestory with the Eagle King,which ended up in a tragic way.

One of things I loved the most was the atmosphere of Prince Jingans house. Every lady was well respected,have their own motivation and life goals. Yuanzhi,Ruisheng,Jiayu all always respected each others,helped each other. All ladies in this drama are well suited and given proper storyline,not just a prop.

Ost's were all good. Pacing was good. Wardrobes were stunning.The palace politics was intriguing enough.And it was really good to see a General with actual action in war,bloodsoaked,ruthless,violent when necessary.

This one was a pleasure to watch. If it had enough budget (and maybe with a proper fml to avoid controversy), this could be on the same level a pursuit of jade.

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Heavy Topics, Good Acting, and Budget Fight Scenes

Reborn didn't shy away from heavy topics. The drama tackles a wide range of intense themes, including toxic family dynamics, grief, depression, school bullying, domestic violence, societal criticism, and the endurance of young love.

The cast did a great job with playing out these heavy topics, delivering strong, convincing performances across the board... some too convincing 😆. One character in particular made me want to jump through the screen and fight them myself. Unfortunately, the actual fight scenes were where the show fell short for me. It felt like production could have spent a few more RMB to make the action believable. I'm not saying that I was expecting Pursuit of Jade level choreography, but at least make it feel like a real street fight, if that's what you're trying to show.

I would say my biggest dislike for this show came from the ending and the central romance. While the main leads were well-matched, their love story left me unfulfilled. I wanted to see more affection, warmth, and genuine yearning between them. The ML (Zhou Ri Yan), played a similar archetype to his role in "You Are Desire", where is was also displayed as a fearless, tough pretty boy, but I never found his "tough guy" persona entirely believable.

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