The performance of Han Ye Seul was the best thing, it was so wonderful that in many episodes, especially between chapters 10 and 15, I just kept watching the series because of her character.
I continued watching despite the fact that in the half some things very unreal and meaningless happened between Go Hye Rim y Choi Soo Hyun, he at various times was very annoying with his obsession for his own work and she was very naive (contradicting her personality in the beginning).
I would have preferred that it remains a little more insightful, because at various times the feeling is that he is the only wo can be smart enough to realize the games between them.
Although the final has not been bad, for me lacked logic: Hye Rim despite having suffered never questioned his own emotional distress.
A second weak point was the relationship between Soon Hyun and his mother and father, it all happened very fast, especially with regard to the father. So, it is used to try create an empathy with the feelings of abandonment of Soo Hyun (to justify his cold and obstinate conduct), but this failed and the all explanation sound very forced and inmature.
Another strong point: the relationship between Dr. Bae Mi Ran y Seung Chan - each episode in which they appeared was a joy because it formed a beautiful relationship of trust..
Again, every time Hye Rim open her fan, it was guaranteed laugh. No doubt her actor's job and charisma were unforgettable.
The soundtrack not had any detachable music.
I do not attend again because I think the story get lost during the second half and the good rhythm of the first part not remained.
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STORY
Thankfully the description of the show gives you the basics of what you need to know. Kid dies, mom goes back 14 days before its death to try and prevent it from happening. I'll keep it simple. Best thing this drama had: multiple plot twists. And that pretty much covers the positive parts of this drama. Do i sound like a hater? Partly, i am. The reason i gave this drama a 9 is because i was super intruiged to see what will happen next, i loved the plot twists and (shocker here) i was never bored. I cannot give a bad rating to a drama that had me on the edge for 16 hours while i have given the same rating to dramas that almost put me to sleep. The twists kept coming and coming and they never failed to amaze. The suspense was always kept in a high level and never failed to impress!
Sadly, God's Gift had a lot of flaws, a few too many actually. The base idea is flawless and interesting and brilliant and *insert a positive adjective here*, but while it was completely enjoyable i couldn't stop my mind from screaming, 'this is stupid'.
1. The drama had no meaning. At first it talked about the death penalty and whether it is moral to sentence a convict to death for his crimes. This notion just gets forgotten after a while and nothings comes to surface. The drama has no meaning it is just there for the *wow* of the story.
2. Convinient script writting. Crime dramas love being convenient and they can't manage to survive without that. However there were so many mistakes done here, and most of them stupid, from placing a bandage on the wrong side of the face to stupid writting just to make the story progress. It is debatable if these 'black spots' are plot holes. I am not even sure because this was so overly complicated i might have missed some parts.
3. Overly, extremely, immensly and exceedingly complicated. I love complicated stories. Hell, most kdramas are so plain and simplistic they get my goat, but this just was too much! I lost the thread of the story many times, i had to read recaps online to keep up, and during the later episodes the show just gave me a huge headache. Maybe it was me, maybe it was the bad writting, maybe both, maybe none.
4. I don't know how they managed to create such unrealistically clever characters (with amazing memory) and make them unimaginably stupid at the same time. They were very quick to pick up what is happening, remembering situations from days ago and yet they fell on every false lead that got on their way and made such stupid decisions!
5. All the problems that are mentioned above just result in this drama being overall highly unrealistic and fake to the point of being ridiculous. It has the fantasy tag on the main page, but fantasy is one thing and this overall plot is another.
6. The ending. It wasn't bad, we pretty much got the mystery resolved, but many questions were left unanswered, some important, some not. I don't have a problem with open endings, but some important things were left on the air while they shouldn't have!
Overall, i have to say i enjoyed it, and we watch dramas to enjoy ourselves so mission accomplished. Despite its flaws it was a very memorable drama and that says something. The first episodes are flawless and you will be completely sucked in. The first half of the drama is an endless manhunt that was engaging and fancinating but at the end was kind of insignificant to the bigger story. The second half might not feel as exciting, but at least we get to unfold the backstory and understand what has happened. It was interesting, but generally had all of the script faults that i mentioned above and a lot of times felt like cheap and lousy writting.
ACTING
So here's what i thought about Lee Bo Young before this: She is a pretty better-than-average actress that just doesn't want to challenge herself. She is ok with being the eye candy and looking cute. It works for her, and she is good at it, no argue there. Interestingly, my opinion about her changed here. She was luscious, she exceeded my expectations and i am thankful she decided to challenge herself in this. She got out of her comfort -'i am pretty'- zone, and while she never looked prettier before than here, she gave an exquisite performance being emotional, being smart, being strong and cocky. She was everything i wanted to see. She apparently left her best performance for last before her maternity hiatus. I am looking forward to seeing her in the future in more similar roles! A spectacular actress.
The only other memorable acting was from Jo Seung Woo. I didn't know him, but he was unquestionably impeccable. A flawless actor that i am happy i got acquainted to!
The entire cast did a great job, and i should also praise the child actor Kim Yoo Bin for her superb portrayal of a somewhat questionable character....
RECOMMEND/REWATCH
Now this is rather difficult. All you people who live off romance and comedy, don't touch this, this isn't for you, go rewatch DOTS! People who want realistic things, you'll love/hate this like me, with emphasis on the hate side. To be honest, this is a show for plot twist lovers. You want a show with plenty of twists and unpredictable events, give this a go. I am not regretting watching this, i just wished the writter kept at least one of their foot on the ground while writting this xD
All in all, i doubt i will ever rewatch this, but it is definately worth a try.
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Sure it has its predictability but c'mon, isn't that part of the appeal? The fact that you get to CHOOSE who the main lead ends up with is such a brilliant idea!
The plots of each route were short and sweet, but more than just a satisfying time filler. The acting was surprisingly pretty good, even though I'd read they were idols - or at least idols in the making! The music was cutesy and catchy in true Kpop style and the rewatch value...ok, yes, I admit I probably would rewatch my favourite (or two) routes. The characters themselves were distinguishable without trying too hard and actually interesting to learn about.
So maybe I'm just overhyping this because I just loved how refreshing this drama was in the way it was handled, yet it's definitely worth at least trying. (I decided to 'try' it out...and then ended up doing a marathon.) It's no 10/10 but I really hope it's the first in a new wave of different Kdramas!
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I love Tori so I thought :" It’s ok, even if this special turn out to be a shitty one I won’t care because Tori is too cute to be ignored.”
I was COMPLETELY wrong.
Tori might be famous for being a ikemen and let’s be honest, when you are known for being an ikemen people don’t take your acting too seriously ( Just like idol actors in Korea.)
But in this case Tori was amazing and really a cutie.
Let’s start with the plot, a really simple one but actually really interesting.
Tabito lost all his 5 senses after an incident ( or shock, if I might say it.)
He can only use his sight , really peculiar eyes that allow him to see emotions, words, smell, sound and so on.
Basically it’s like he’s suffering of Synesthesia . He’s a detective and with his ability he resolves simple cases. He than met a nursing teacher and the story begins.
There’s nothing much to say about this special but it’s really well written and the story is cute.
The ending leaves you with the feeling of wanting more, in fact I really HOPE this is going to be turned into a drama because I’ll definitely watch it.
The cast had a cute chemistry ( why am I using the word cute this much on this review???) and Tabito’s friend and “daughter” were amazing.
I recommended this special if you want to watch something cute ( here we go with cute again) and with a really handsome dad played by Tori.
I will finish this review by saying that I want now Tori’s kids.
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What makes this plot unbelievable are the two women who assist their love interests to win over women of their choice who would better suit them. This does not happen in the real world! This goes against human nature!
Equally ridiculous is the hospital drama of love wasting as a form of manipulation. It is more of a psychiatric condition! And then the final blow, who ends up with whom? You will never be able to figure it out because it makes no sense. You don't suddenly switch your love interests. I did not feel any romance at all here at all. Instead, it seems the real schizophrenic was the writer. It's too bad because the characters, acting, and music were all noteworthy.
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I loved both movies and L change the world was actually a cool movie to watch.
So if someone may ask me to describe this drama with a single word I would probably choose to use the adjective “Disappointing”.
Let me explain myself.
It’s actually a pretty good version of the anime. The story is crazily different form the original one BUT it was actually good to watch Yagami Light character portrayed as a extremely good boy who wants to clear up the world.
Let’s go on with the review:
GOOD POINTS
- L character.
I might describe myself as a “conservative” type when it comes to L character. He’s a pretty complex personality, basically a genius who’s also a weirdo.
This version of L is amazing. He’s a brat at first, a handsome young genius who just wants to play a game with an extremely “dumb” version of Light Yagami.
I loved his personality and during the drama you can see that it slightly changed to a serious one, putting aside jokes when police members start to get killed by Kira.
I always say that Kento still needs to improve as an actor but damn, here he was a shining diamond. He should accept those kind of roles more often, a villain would be a really great challenge for him.
Anyway he did an amazing job and he made me fall in love with L even more.
- Cinematography and Photography.
It was a low budget drama, Ryuk was awful BUT I love the cinematography. It’s not as perfect as “PIECE” one but damn, it was well directed.
- Police Team .
I loved the chemistry between them.
BAD POINTS
- The plot.
I would gave this drama a higher score if the plot didn’t fucked up on its last episode. Death Note screenwriters were amateurs, you can’t deny it.
L death was useless and although it was pretty dramatic I found it useless. Why recording videos of yourself in which you explain exactly how Kira will be caught but get yourself killed because of a stupid mistake?
L’s death was really unnecessary for this plot, plot full of odd points and unexplained choices.
- Light character.
Let’s be honest, I loved how they portrayed Light as a good boy who just got himself caught up with something really evil that has made his mind gone crazy.
BUT Some points were missing. He turned into a psycho really quickly and at some point I was like “What's happening? It was a good guy just a sec ago and now he’s as mad as an hatter.”
I love Kubota’s acting skills but he just got too hype during some scenes, making Light looking like an…. Overexcited idiot?
THE ENDING
Worst ending ever! On my point of view this drama started to get awful right after L death. The plot was getting boring and the main star, L, just disappeared too soon, making the audience a little bit confused and disappointed.
Honestly speaking, I would watch this drama over and over again just for Kento’s character.
I would recommend this drama if you are a big fan of Kento (just like me) but if you are a huge HUGE fan of the manga I guess this drama will piss you off.
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Drama Breakdown: First part was hard for me (way unrealistic, I mean who talks to your new boss this way). middle part got better and started to grow on me (started rooting for the couple). middle-almost end (WTH, why do you need this stuff to waste time, please make it stop). then finally the end (my comment, at least it ended happily, hugs & kisses). Moving on.
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This is more a fantasy swept off your feet romance and the problems in the story just easily disappears or was solved. The plot is so unrealistic. So some reality check here. I do not like the lead actress and how she acts. So this is more of a shallow rom/com, trying to insert the drama. It wasn't worth the hours.
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A series which keeps you entertained, interested and manages to surprise you several times. The producers of Bad Guys did a good job on choosing their actors for their story line either. They'd fit in perfectly.
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2016 and TvN started with the right foot, Signal is amazing, well written, acted, the developments even though some of them would break my heart sometimes, made complete sense. The mystery would leave me at the edge of my seat every time, but the feeling of wanting more was always there when they completed a case. I stopped watching on episode 6 and started again when the drama was complete, I cried my eyes out, but those were the best 10 hours of my life.
The 3 leads made my heart break so many times with how good they were, their desire for justice and the truth made me respect the characters so much more, those are the kind of people I would want working in law enforcement. If Jo Jin Woong's acting is always like this, he has a new fan, Lee Jae Han is unforgettable.
A special remark on Kang Cha Ni (Park Sun Woo), I already loved the actor for his work in "Can you hear my heart?", but here he proved just how good he is, since the first time he appeared I cheered for him, but OMG, I cried so much for him, for his family, angry tears for those cops, those students, I never thought I would say this, but my heart actually hurt for everything that happened, he's one of those young actors that I have to keep an eye on.
I just didn't put 10 on the rewatch value, because I hardly go back to watch a 16 episodes drama, maybe one hour and a half movie, but not a drama, but that's me. Overall, Signal is perfect and a must watch kind of drama.
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He’s basically one of the most talented young actors in Japan so when I watched this drama I wanted to slam the screenwriter head against a wall.
The plot is ok, I’m not saying I didn’t like it.
But all the characters, except for Kamiki’s one ( but sometimes his character too were a little bit awful) , were so bad portrayed that I almost drop this drama.
Let’s talk about the plot. It’s basically the common high school story about a girl who was bullied by evil and rich classmates and now she take a stand and try to change her rotten school.
The main idea is actually cool, the first episode left me so speechless. But after some episodes, I noticed that the story started to become a little bit boring because of the characters.
The “evil boys” weren’t actually evil at all. It took just one episode to completely make them become good puppies.
Same thing happened to the “bitches squad”.
This plot had a good meaning behind it. Education is an evil creature and basically school and teachers don’t gice a damn about their students.
Kei monologues were AMAZING! He’s so clever and I liked to see that he was actually pretty old compared to other characters age.
His background story was touching but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing when he stood up just like Clara from Haidi anime.
And last but not least, Hirose Suzu.
Let’s be honest, I really hate her. I can’t understand why she’s so freaking famous as an actress when her voice is so annoying but that’s just my opinion.
Her character was cute but at the same time I found her so freaking childish. But it was a good match to Kei’s cold and sassy personality.
This wasn’t a drama meant for a love story so when Haruna kissed Kei I was like “NOOOOO WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING????”
Romance isn’t always the right choice.
Anyway, I would recommend this drama but just for Kamiki’s acting skills.
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As a an old drama fan it is a shame that I have only seen this almost 14 years later when it should have been one of my first dramas. Nonetheless it is better now than never. Once again old dramas never seize to amaze me, watching them 10-14 years later and they win my heart like no recent drama ever does which is why they are special to me. Normally people would think after all that time have passed and after watching so many great dramas, old dramas which are usually full of cliches will never stand a chance but the thing is that is exactly why they win me over and capture my heart because even with all that time they can get my heart fluttering in a way no recent drama will ever do. This rating is nothing compared to how I feel about this drama and how it made me feel, this number is nothing when I think that I actually watched this now in 2016 and it won me over just like that (I'm very tough for a drama to win me over).
4 eps long drama which gave me that depth and that beautiful warm classy feelings that I've missed and longed for such a long long time. Only 4 eps but to me it has accomplished what other dramas with recent filmography could never do, at least not to me.
Friends is a South Korean-Japanese short drama it was the first time in drama history that the two countries collaborated to co-produce the show in both South Korea and Japan. Which makes it even more special. Allow me to say, what a beautiful collaboration! It doesn't get any more beautiful than this.
The story is very simple, about a man and woman from two different worlds met in one place and due to certain circumstances they got to know each other while none of them could speak the other language so communication was a tough mission and yet as a viewer I could see that they were communicating very well through their eyes, I can feel it. I did not feel that they had issues with delivering the way they feel it's like they've clicked the moment they've met and I have clicked with them.
In case some of you don't know about Korea-Japan relationship, this relationship has always been sensitive and still is. Even though things have gotten much better now but there is still that tension between the two countries. This drama was trying to teach us what kind of complications a Korean person and Japanese person could face not just in falling in love with each other but also as people. What it takes for a Korean person at that time to travel to Japan and vice versa. Also culture wise, society, language and most of all family complications. Can love really overcome all that? Considering that both countries value these aspects a lot.
Personally even though I watched this knowing pretty much everything I could know about Korea-Japan history but Friends 2002 still taught me things I wasn't aware of. The most important thing that I got to feel which I never did pay attention to before is the fact that there must have been people from those two countries who actually fell in love with each other despite all these complications, which makes me wonder did they ever get their happily ever after ending?
I loved both main leads here character wise and acting wise I really loved them. I have seen Won Bin before and he is one of the best actors but all I had for him is respect as an actor I never really did warm up to him or fall in love with him. This is the first time I warm up so much to him and I felt I saw something in him here which I never saw in his other projects and that made me happy. However my absolute favourite one and the one who stole my heart RIGHT AWAY is Fukada Kyoko. I can not believe this beautiful lady stole my heart the moment I laid my eyes on her from the very first scene. She was the one who made me feel "I don't know why but I think I'm going to fall in love with this drama" (I watched the drama without reading the synopsis because I simply love to discover things on my own). Fukada Kyoko's way of playing Tomoko forced me to believe her pure innocent way of falling in love (which is very hard to pull off since in real life we always ask ourselves "can there really be such a pure innocent naive love?"). To be honest I really believed her, I believed her feelings, I believed her tears, I believed her innocence, I felt that it was her first love and she was overwhelmed, I felt her confusion and lostness and most of all I really did believe her love as naive as it was. I've never seen an actress who can pull this image so perfectly and so raw and real. Now I can only see her as Tomoko.
Music: Classic, one of those OSTs that I will never forget (it is a given since it belongs to the year 2002). I fell in love with every melody and song here but my favourite is One by Lee So Jung.
I don't rewatch dramas, I have very few that belong to my rewatchable list and this one definitely makes it to the list. It made it to my all time favourite :)
This is a must watch drama only for those who appreciate simple but carries deep meaning kind of story, those who appreciate classics and classic vibes, those who like dramas for the "feels" it delivers and finally those who like to see love overcoming boundaries and to see the bonds that bind people together.
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