Reviews

Violent Game of Death

LAST SAMURAI STANDING (2025 - ) was a brutal and riveting Japanese series, a fictional story set in the historical era of 1870's. The series was excellent in all ways. Casting, acting, costumes, design, visual and last but certainly not least the martial arts choreography and brutal fight scenes.

"In 1878, 292 samurai gather for a battle royale lured by a 100 thousand yen prize. Wooden tags are given; the last survivor reaching Tokyo wins. Shujiro Saga participates to save his sick family. A dangerous game of survival unfolds."

I highly recommend this short series, especially if you enjoy gritty asian series with a dark premise, intense action and fight scenes, and set in a realistic historical period. This was a top notch series that I really enjoyed along, with other Asian historical / action martial arts series, such as Japan's Shogun (2024), Korea's Kingdom (2019) and US's Warrior (2019-2023).

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Mystery, Action & Romance

JUDGE DEE'S MYSTERY (2024) is an excellent Chinese mystery drama based on the original Judge Dee book series of historical detective novels by Dutch author Robert van Gulik, featuring a magistrate and detective from China's 7th-century Tang Dynasty, based on a real historical figure, Di Renjie (played by Yiwei Zhao), who was excellent in his role.

For a while, I've been searching for historical fiction dramas that are set in a fantasy / fictional world and yet firmly grounded in reality and historical atmosphere. This series fit the bill, and was just perfect, in my opinion. This series was super enjoyable with a great cast and settings as well. The locations are fantastic as well as the sets and costumes were all visually stunning. I absolutely loved this series.

"A brilliant investigator incurs the wrath of a shadowy foe when he travels to a border town to tackle crimes and misdeeds on behalf of Empress Wu Zetian."

Overall, this series was fantastic. I enjoyed almost everything about it, from the mysteries to the incredible cast to the exciting fight scenes. A great series! Hoping for a sequel season soon!

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Exactly what I expected

So I think anyone watching a Guo Jing Ming drama needs to be prepared for what they're getting themselves into. I appreciate his dramas because the cinematic visuals, costumes, make-up, and ost are always incredible. The actual story on the other hand? .. not so much. And that is exactly what Veil of Shadows gave.

Let's start with the bad things first: cause what even was this story really? It was incredibly convoluted, I think it could have easily filled all 29 eps by focusing on 2 or 3 of the storylines, instead of what felt like 20. There is so much going on, so many characters are introduced with the impression that they are really important, but then forgotten about. Character connections, relationships, and backgrounds are super confusing, made more confusing by the fact that everyone plays so many characters (I think Yan An and Tian Jia Rui played 10 characters between the two of them, and then some of them ended up being the same character? I'm still confused...). So if you care about character development, give up, you will not be able to keep track of it here.
Second, GJM plays really fast and loose with the rules in his magical worlds, because huh? Don't even bother to remember power, rules, and hierarchies established in the first couple of eps, because they are completely disregarded later on (one example of this I really dislike is that GJM's female leads are always introduced as incredibly powerful, magical beings, yet halfway through the story he seems to forget about this fact... anyways). This makes the stakes of the story feel super low. Although usually GJM's dramas have a tragic ending, which I don't love cause it feels too extreme (i.e. half the characters dying), Veil of Shadows has the complete opposite extreme, where every character died at least once, came back to life (multiple times), got their happy ending, but it still did not feel satisfying. I think GJM's endings are usually quite weak, the solution to defeat the villain is somehow figured out at the last minute, in the most confusing way, and you're just there like ... sure I guess. Like, what do you mean Ji Ling has to go back in time to make sure Wuyi was never created and thus none of the bad things could have happened, yet he brings her out of the past, to the present, with him? Does that not defeat the purpose? And why is Wu Shi Guang the only one who remembers the past? So many questions.

But, I still finished the drama, and enjoyed it lol. What saved it for me is exactly what I mentioned before: everything and everyone looks beautiful, ost is great, and I am just a sucker for an ensemble drama. All the actors did a really good job with the crazy story; their chemistry (not just chemistry between FLs and MLs, but between ensemble as a whole) and acting skills still managed to suck me in and made me care about the characters. Loved the relationship between the sisters, loved Chen Du Ling and Ju Jing Yi together (wish we got a nice conclusion between them though..). GJM does funny, light-hearted, and tender moments really well, and you just end up falling for that. So, if you want to watch this unseriously and are okay with being confused most of the time, you'll have a good time!

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Tender & Romantic

DEEP AFFECTION EYES (2025) was pretty good romantic Cdrama. While a bit predictable at times, the romance that blooms between the two characters is definitely sweet, genuine and overall a pleasure to watch. I did feel that the ML was a bit dry in personality and it took a while to develop his character and the relationship between the leads.

"After career troubles, Ye Meng moves back home seeking peace. She meets the enigmatic Li Jinyu, drawn to his quiet demeanor and expressive eyes. Together, they find healing and romance."

Overall, "Deep Affectionate Eyes" was an enjoyable watch. The small town setting, memorable acting and enduring side characters made this romance drama a joy.

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A bit too fluffy for me.

I watched this as a recommendation from a review I read saying it was spicy!! The reviewer lied as it was a lot of fluff and absolutely 0 spice!!! It was cute in it's own way and I don't recognize any of the main actors, but their chemistry was good and their acting was pretty good. I'm not happy about the lack of spice (NC scenes) but it was enjoyable to watch and it didn't cause me to fall asleep. All in all, it was pretty good and the actor who played Pluem is extremely handsome and I thought he was the guy who acted with Ohm in the TV series Bad Buddy as they really look alike. I haven't seen him in another role since, but it'd be nice to see his talents branch out more. I recommend this one to anyone into sweet and fluffy BL romances.

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An Absolute Mess of A Drama Filled With Sinkhole Through Which All The Logic Went To The Drains

This drama had only one good thing, and that was the cast. The lead actor playing Jung Ba Reum was absolutely amazing. He portrayed his role to perfection. But the writer was probably sleeping (his/her brain was asleep but was physically awake) or was dead drunk while writing, otherwise, how can you write such a messy plot with half-baked logic? What about the director and the production team? All were sleeping, I suppose. The writer seemed obsessed with psychopaths and I felt like he/she was glorifying them. This half-baked, messy writing required 20 1-hour+ episodes, along with 3 additional cuts to understand???
1. How can Jung Ba Reum be present at 2 places at once? He was killing Father Ko live and was also at the TV station and running all over the city in different clothes to catch the culprit. Fighting with the FL etc.
2. The 2 women swapped their children, but no one found out? Also, how did the other women agree to let another women raise her son as the son of head hunter, when he was not? The original mother attempted to kill young Jung Ba Reum but here the OZ was sleeping on the job, I guess. But later killed the entire family as the adoptive mother tried to kill him inside the house with no one watching.
3. The OZ has all the information and tails their subject, but fails to notice that the original mother of Jung Ba Reum tries to kill him at the hospital. Also, how can a dash cam have 2 memory cards containing live footage getting saved at the same time? Even if the agent had a backup, then the OZ, who was so mighty didnot notice the memory card hanging in front of their face, but only Detective Ko noticed it very conveniently.
4. The FL finds Jung Ba Reum is the killer coz he had an injury in his hand. He is a police officer, and he can get injured for other reasons. But no, that is the reason FL finds to conclude Jung Ba Reum is the murderer coz of a knife injury and a button, as if that was a custom-made only button of a school uniform. Moreover, Song Yu han saved the FL when she was small and called the police with his personal phone. But police failed to track the kid and did not find the kid who filed the report, and the mother also did not know. Later, she finds out again, conveniently, as her son was very kind. Also, didn't the ML had found the FL the next day but didnot save her. Also didnot Song Yu han save her the same night and carry her to the police? Even if it was the later night how was not a search operation called for a missing child? absolute bla bla bla writing.
5. The most ridiculous one is the brain transplant itself. A neurologist and serial killer who was in prison for the past 30 years can perform surgery with the same precision as before. As if that was not enough, the patient can now feel all the feelings that he was unable to feel before. What trashy piece of writing is this???
6. The news reporters telecasting live murders and finding shows that include classified information about ongoing cases regularly on TV. Absolute nonsense. That reporter girl is the missing girl who was hiding her identity and living as another, and no one finds out. She was the helper of the headhunter (though involuntary) and the missing child of the investigating officer, but as a child, she was able to hide herself.
7. Every character is connected, and finding everything out very conveniently makes this drama absolutely a product of sloppy writing. The one who designed the poster is the biggest spoiler itself as it instantly gives away who the psychopath is.
8. Detective Ko can enter anybody's home/office anytime he wants, including a high-profile politician's personal residence, who has her own gang of security. Also, the doctor involved in this entire issue is dumb as well along with the pharmacy staffs, who very conveniently tells everything to the detective about the medicine. Too many coincidences. A politician begging a serial killer by getting on her knees to save a man by transplanting his own son's brain and killing his own son (the headhunter did not know then). The politician capable of running such a forbidden experiment does not doubt this at all. Are you joking, writer?
Overall, this trashy piece of drama took me 1 painfully long month to finish. The ratings are extremely misleading. I thought it would get better, probably. It got a bit better when the ML was using his ability to kill other predators for a few episodes, but again, logic went down the drain. A serial killer who lives a life of charade and was supposed to be extremely cunning, but fails to notice he was being tailed his whole life. The concept was promising, making a serial killer feel remorse for his actions, but the execution was very much like a fairytale of a children's book. I have completely wasted my time, and I would not recommend this trash to anyone.

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a drama that is NOT really a drama

This is a "slice of life" drama that "slices" a bit too much.

There is basically no horizontal plot line going on but theme based episodes with the same characters.

Our protagonists are a bunch of teenagers that navigate through life and bring us along.

It is hard to feel connected to the characters when there is basically no development or "plot" going on.


I cannot say I didn't feel any emotions because some episodes were really touching.

The one when the ml is rebuilding his relationship with his father or when the old neighbor died were really touching. I even cried.

The only dynamic that takes place on multiple episodes is the main couple love story. I found it pretty sweet and considering the nature of the drama, they did a decent enough job but there wasn't "enough" stuff shown in my opinion.

I am making it clear because if you are here for a sweeping love story, this is not the drama for you.

The other love story in the drama is shown pretty poorly. We start on early episodes with the other 2 characters getting closer to then abandon this story line for entire episodes.

I am not saying this is a bad drama, but it isn't really a drama in my opinion.

There is stuff going on but everything is disjointed.

If you like to experience cute, emotional stuff going on without a plot connecting everything together you might still enjoy "lovely us".

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Zombie Slowburn Drama

HAPPINESS (2021) was a pretty good zombie series with aspects of drama and romance as well.

"An apocalyptic thriller that takes place in a time in which infectious diseases have become the new normal."

For a zombie thriller, it had some really good moments, but it was sort of drawn out in certain places, and that slower pacing effected the tension and overall thrilling atmosphere.

On the bright side, I enjoyed the premise and story, as well as the characters. The visuals were also really well done. Overall, this series was a decent watch. It was worth a chance.

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Tender, Thoughtful & Romantic

LOVE NEXT DOOR (2024) This series was a really moving and sweet slowburn romance drama, but also went deeper in so many ways. It focuses a lot on childhood friendships, adult friendships, on family relationships, dating, reconciliation and marriage... most of all, it's about a small neighborhood community and the connections that last a lifetime.

"Renowned young architect Choi Seung-hyo runs the atelier "In." Bae Seok-ryu, his childhood friend, rejoins his life after quitting her corporate job, resurfacing memories he'd rather forget from their peculiar childhood bond."

I really enjoyed this show a lot, overall. The main characters and their developing love was so sweet and wholesome. Both leads were simply excellent. The childhood friendships, the family dynamics, even all the parents issues were meaningful.

My only complaint would be the overly heavy focus on the side character, Jeong Mo Eum's romance. It was cute, and even though I liked all the characters involved (Jeong Mo Eum, Kang Dan Ho, and the girl) the relationship chemistry felt a little bland for me and I felt that it slowed down the pacing of the other plots.

Overall, I really enjoyed this show, especially the main couple and their development, the three best friends' interactions, the family relationships and memories along with the parents personal journeys as well. It was really enjoyable. Great show.

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How I feel after finishing Duang with you

Duang with you is one of the best BL's I have watched.
The soundtrack is addicting, the acting is on point, the story is so touching that it will melt your heart.
I recommend you to watch it and I want to be one of the person who discover it for the first time again. But I guess I can't.
If you're a new BL fan and don't know what to watch. I highly recommend Duang with you.
Duang with you is a novel that has sweet romance and comedy. It has a special place in my heart and everytime I feel low I know that Duang with you will help. Teeteepor really knew how to show their emotions in Duang with you and I can tell you a thing it wasn't easy waiting a whole entire week for a new episode, so i'm jealous of the one that will never have to wait a whole entire week for a new episode.
And everytime you watch an episode you want to rewatch it again.
I highly recommend Duang with you and I give it a 10 out of 10.

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Questionable Storyline

The series actually packed with good casts that can deliver ranges of acting since I've seen most of them in another works.
As for Becky, personally, I think she's doing a good job delivering a new kind of Nanno since this is reset version. Because I never expect her to be the same as previous Nanno and I'm glad throughout the episodes I never compared her to the old Nanno.
Now the main issue for me is the storyline and the direction of the show. While I like the dynamic between Nanno and Sky, I can't say the same with the overall plots. There's no wow factors that can glued me to my seat, the stories were bland and tasteless. I now that there are lessons but I was expecting some twists or something like that.
I hope the next season the stories will be more interesting.

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It was okay

A series far from perfect with writing and execution issues, but with its own charm that manages to keep you interested. I expected it to be just a light-hearted drama, but I was actually surprised to see some heavier themes being addressed. The let down was that they didn't fully commit on exploring them and instead sacrificed the limited length of the eight episodes, by introducing sub-plots, while rushing the existing storylines. For me, it had the potential to be a great bl series, had they stayed loyal to the main plot and developed more the characters and their dynamics.

The acting was good overall and I generally enjoyed the chemistry of each pairing, but I will give a little more credit to Tee for delivering some very difficult emotional scenes.

I recommend the series to people who look for a lighter show with some depth. Despite any flaws, it was still fun and easy to watch.

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