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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The longer version: This is not a complex show, and it doesn't try to be. That doesn't make it bad, but it does mean that you really need to not think too hard about it. Luckily, the story moves at a quick pace, not lingering too long on storylines, which is honestly a blessing. If you don't think about the plot too hard, it kind of works if and just enjoy the characters.
The characters are what truly made this show work. Megain Lai, as mentioned before, was fantastic. She sold the part well, and I found myself rooting for her and sympathizing with her at all turns. Baron Chen was certainly charismatic, and the two leads had amazing chemistry. He did a decent job selling you on the idea that he may have confusing feelings for a person he shouldn't be attracted to. The vet friend, played by Sean Lee was never really a great fit with the overall structure of the show, but he was a fun foil for the main couple at times when the story needed him to be. The secondary couple, Bii and Katie Chen were adorable, though I found their stories to be a bit boring and saccharine for my tastes.
As for the rest -- there were certain supporting characters who I just loved. The sister, played by Mandy Tao was hilarious, falling first for our lead female, and then eventually finding love herself. Her character grew the most, which is saying something, since there was very little actual character growth throughout the series.
The other character I adored was the cousin, played by Amanda Chou. She was like your drunk fairy godmother, coming in at just the right moment and being sweet and loud, and the perfect person to push the heroine to the edges of her comfort zone. I wish there had been more of her throughout the series.
The parents of both leads were wonderful as well. I found myself liking that they were reasonable and normal -- no potentially evil mothers-in-law or anything like that. They were all true to their situations.
The villains were probably the weakest and most predictable characters, but honestly, those stories take up so little time that it's not worth being bothered over.
Overall, this was a fun watch, and I wouldn't say no to a rewatch. Just don't go in expecting too much depth, and you may be pleasantly charmed.
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In comparison I did really like 1997, but was not a fan of 1994. In either regard this one passed them both in spades for me. Even though I had it spoiled for me who the husband was before I started watching, it didn't take away from it at all. I compliment the writer for being much more progressive in that manner. 1997 it was obvious who the husband was. 1994 was less obvious, but they still heavily skewed it toward who it was. This one didn't feel obvious at all until the later episodes, and they even skewed it away.
The writer said that they wanted the audience to focus more on the family/friends aspect rather than the whole guess the husband thing, and that makes sense given the last episode doesn't give much focus to it. Which I am fine with, even though it's a slight disappointment that we at least didn't get a scene of them telling their families about their relationship, and would like to have seen the overall reaction from everyone. Oh well, doesn't take away enough for me to lower my score on this, as I just completely fell in love with this show. This show practically portrays every theme you can think of when it comes to family and friendship, and does so in such moving ways.
As for the acting, everyone was great. Hyeri did a fantastic job, along with everyone else. I don't have a single complaint about any of them.
This is my 92nd completed K-drama, and only my second perfect 10 score. It will definitely be hard for me to stop thinking about this one for a while.
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- For the first half of the drama, the balance between romance and medical was really good. However towards the end, the romance got really complicated (rather than love triangle.. it became a square?) and confusing. The medical part of it pretty much got lost after episode 30.
- I enjoyed the medical parts of the drama more since the context of the drama was about how Yu Xian was the first imperial doctress and attempt to rid of the negative connotations for female doctors.
- It felt like the drama lost its point and was trying hard to push the romance.
- The ending happened very quickly and weirdly...
Characters/Actors:
- I felt the actors was well chosen
- There was chemistry between all 3 main characters but Yu Xian's personality was predictable - like the typical 'innocent and pure' character.
Music:
- i didnt pay much attention towards the music of the drama, but the song that was used during the romantic scenes was really nice
Overall:
- Overall its a nice drama to watch, at least first half. Its pretty long - 50 episodes, I recommend watching it when you have loads of free time. Since first half the drama got me waiting for the next since I was following it as it aired (2 episodes everyday), so you might get hooked initially. But around episode 30 - you probably will slow down.
- Its a Chinese soap opera - so if chinese isn't you first language you won't be able to enjoy what they say as much since they speak in the 'ancient' way. Even as a chinese speaker, some parts are hard to understand.
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