Reviews

The writers of this drama were extremely skillful. It is a "but for" drama that continues to weave tales that can be answered by the "but for" statement. Although extremely lengthy for a daily drama there were enough cliff hangers to keep the viewer interested and "hooked". Also the introduction of new characters and new life situations kept the drama from being redundant. The female lead was a poor choice for role but eventually she grows on you. The two male leads are extremely handsome and talented. What really kept me drawn to this drama was the mother who was mentally challenged. She played that role impeccably and so believably. Her performance was award winning. A drama to watch daily with multiple episodes to maintain interest -- otherwise you will become bored because there are 159 episodes and want to skip episodes. Good family drama.

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I watched this because It's been added to Netflix (under the name "Never Die" ) and it was short. It's a cute story, basically Se Yeon discovered 200 years ago that she was immortal after falling in a well. Now every night her body "resets" itself and gets rid of any illnesses, injuries, and even hair cuts.

Jung Hoon and Se Yeon meet after she saves him form an accident and dies, Jung Hoon pays for her funeral only to discover she has come back to life.

It's a very short drama- about in hour in total- so it's very easy to watch on a lazy afternoon. The acting wasn't Oscar worthy, and it was cheesy in places (but that's to be be expected from a drama with this plot), but all in all it wasn't bad. I really liked Ji Eun Sung, I thought he was very cute and played his character well. Kim Yun Bae's character also made me laugh, I look forward to seeing him do more.

My only fault with the drama was the ending, it would have been better with a "bitter sweet" ending (to quote green_tokki in the comments).

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Coffee Prince. Oh, coffee prince.

Smooth. Honest. Sexy. Humble. Coffee Prince reallyyyy stole my heart. With the great music, actors, & romance lines that always held a sense of realism no matter how crossed the wires got -- it was just an absolute joy to watch. But surprisingly enough, even with all that, that wasn't what hooked me. It's truly the basic plot of the story, one that is so unique & original, that it keeps pulling me back. Eun-Chan is a girl, pretending to be a guy, who falls in love with a guy, who thinks she's a guy. And it was so well done! Eun-Chan and Han-Gyul were hot..er..I mean, really good together, & there were so many relationship beats that had me squeeing because of how spot on they felt to real life. They reacted to their circumstances the way I could imagine reacting, so as the audience I was totally with them through all the ups & downs. Oh, and hey, who could forget about the other boys of the show! They really made the coffee shop feel like a family & definitely rounded out the tone, & my overall love for show. The episode I knew this show was the one? When they went to the apple farm. I don't know why but for some reason I remember just totally relaxing into that episode. It was fun, yet soothingly quiet. I found myself feeling very peaceful, allowing myself to let the show take me wherever it wanted to take me. It was so nonchalant in a beautiful way and just took me away to Eun-Chan and Han-Gyul's world. Absolutely wonderful show.

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This drama is not perfect. Far from it, But what trendy drama is perfect? Several TV drama have that second lead syndrome for purpose of benefit several people behind the scene. Many show did. But some of them were just went unnoticed. But who cares? Because I feel she is indeed take a good job to make this drama very watchable.

The focus is not only for the main character, but also focus on anyone else. A drama with having good ensemble cast like this would be waste if you focus only the main character arc, And I'm glad PD and writers took that route (Though some actor just has that limitation that at times unable to explore the complexity of their own character, that sometimes makes me wonder what could have been if they cast a more capable actor).

Let the original writer of the webtoon do her job to write the main character arc more depth and detail because she has a freedom to do it. PD and writer only have 16 eps on their hand to complete the series! and Other than Love Triangle storyline that might be taken away the quality of the drama, everything else is fine. They cover the overall message from the webtoon. I like the fact they explore all Jung's victim and how Jung or Hong Seol action affect them, and how their action affect our lead.
That's the reason I find it worth to rewatching. Watch the first time and we will normally see through our main character point of view. And watch again for the second time, and this time you are in our victim main char point of view, and you will see a different light.


IWhat I found interesting about this drama is writers refuse to take aside any of the character, and let audience judge the char choice and pointing out the mistake they made and the consequence they have to face. Many drama just like to take aside especially for their lead and afraid to make their leading take a darker route. Many drama fail to potray their anti hero, they don't want to take a risk afraid the audience won't accept their char, seems abit taboo for them to acknowledge their leading flaws. Several drama that are suppose to bring up an anti hero as their main theme fail to move forward the issue and conflict into something more interesting and meater because of this and fail miserably. ( I can't believe this writers is the one who write that mess stairway to heaven. Even if the idea mostly from Soonki, seems to me they are deliver a different message. And She is still the one who wrote the script, screenwriter and mangaka storytelling has different concept.)

For that, thank you Cheese in the trap

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Very solid beginning, even though the American actors they hired were horrible. As long as you can get past that you are on fairly solid footing. I enjoyed it at the beginning, and thought the meet-cute was well done. And then the second half of the show happened and you wonder why the hell you are watching this. Nothing in the story makes sense, and you can see that they really faltered in how to actually move the story forward once Kim Tan was back in Korea and his relationship with Cha Eun Sang starts to actually move forward beyond creepy stalking.

So let me tell you why this drama IS worth your time: THE. SUPPORTING. CAST. Basically everyone but the lead couple make you drawn into what's going on and they all do an amazing job with the measly little scraps they are given. I really wanted to know more of all of their stories, and infinitely less of the lead couple. They were cardboard and a waste of life. Why do people love Lee Min Ho again? I can't for the life of me figure this out. Park Shin Hye is right there with him. Why do people love her? I'm so confused.

I was irrationally invested in Young Do and Rachel's brother-sister relationship for the abysmal screen time they got together. I needed them to be together and awesome close friend-siblings forever, because every time they were together was amazing and so funny. They had that warring "I can't stand your face but I still have to love you so I do" thing that siblings have and did it so well. Bo Na and Chan Young were also my favorite thing in the universe. So sickeningly adorable and stole the show from anyone else that was in the scene with them individually or as a couple. Also, thanks CNBlue for giving me another human I irrationally love. I already LOVE Krystal, but Kang Min Hyuk was new to me and now I have another kpop star that I need to quit that life so he can be in dramas all the time. I wanted a better ending for Kim Won, but we can't have everything. I mostly just wanted a reason to be invested in him enough to be invested in his ending. Now there's a character who got the short end of the stick. If the lead couple's screen time had been cut in half and the story had been distributed evenly among the rest of the characters it probably would have been a much better show.

I'm also very convinced that the ending would have been better if it was a Taiwanese drama. But then I wouldn't have Krystal or KWB, so maybe not. That ending is a disaster though.

And OMG that song. Way to be heavy handed with the OST. I love Taiwanese dramas irrationally, so you must be really aggressive with the soundtrack for me to not like you. Plus in general it's horrible song, and if I never hear that song again it will be too soon.

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*cries* *cries* it's only been 4 hours since i finished this amazing series.
Amazing? yes amazing!!
I've watched all the reply series but i must say this one was on a totally different level from the others.

I loved the fact that the main focus was not just on the love triangle or "who the husband is" but also on the side characters (were there any ? Everyone had their own spotlight.) and family, friends, about growing up and every other thing that one experiences in life. Nothing seemed forced or boring(even thou the episodes are long) time seemed to pass away so quickly.

Loved each and every character present in this drama from the teenagers to parents and every character and episode touched my heart. By the way Park Bo Gum was way too cute and Ryu Jun Yoel was way too smart and sexy. Want to take both of them with me!

Talking about love triangle. I didn't care about it that much. I mean of course i wanted to know who the husband is badly but never got frustrated about the secret thing. if she would have end up with the other person in the triangle i would have been equally happy but in the end i was satisfied of her choice as' he' really did deserve her.

Music? didn't i tell you everything was perfect. Music only alleviated my emotions. . Always fit for the situation.

And ya i do have regrets but it doesn't affects my love for this series. Those are just small things that i personally wanted to see 'cause i'm still craving for more.

Even thou the series was great but there were points that were a bit dissapointing in the end. It was like the ending could have been better.
For rewatch value i cannot go through such long episodes and feel such complicated emotions again plus im not good in rewatching stuffs but i wont stop watching this with my siblings or make them watch this series.

In the end, a must watch! I bet you'll seriously enjoy this amazing roller coaster ride of all types of emotions and crave for more and more (If you like a pure slice of life drama and root for the correct guy- but it didn't matter to me- i liked both of them)
ENJOY!!!!

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I loved it, when I can watch a drama and feel giddy and happy despite evil backstabbers I'd say success. This is not your serious, plot twist, EVIL SIDE heffers that don't give up, change mankind or heal the world drama. The music was beautiful even though I had 0 clue what the translation was to English.
Why I loved it so much - It's light, romantic, sweat, cute, make you a believer kinda drama and even though I did shed a few years they were gentle tears not ugly bawling tears. Plus, it shows that you don't ALWAYS have to end up with your first love as most of the other dramas would have you believe. The cast is great and I could watch them all day which is what I literally did w/o me even knowing it. The leads have great chemistry and I believed in there romance one dimple and sexy muscle at a time. There were some serious issues mentioned here, weight, self hate, over coming obstacles, abandonment, acceptance, being lonely etc. etc. despite that it was fun to watch. The leads looked like they were enjoying themselves & got a long well so you felt at ease watching them. Even the "bad guy" & "bad girl" you kinda hoped that they'd figure things out and become happy also. Yes lets hold hands and forgive. I'm happy I watched and thought it was surely worth it. Were there flaws, probably but I was in love with the cast and their story so I didn't care less. Loved So Ji Sub (hum a na hum a na, YUM whatever he's selling I'm buying) I'd loose weight for him too. lol. Also Loved Shin Min Ah, ever since I saw "My Girlfriend is a Gumiho" I think there is something special about her and watching her brings a smile to your face. Loved the other cuties Lau Henry & Sung Hoon, would not kick them outta bed for eating crackers.
On a closing note, the drama wrapped up nicely; great ending and tied each of the stories up with a nice big bow on it.
I probably would have given a 10; if I saw more muscles for a longer period of time. LOL

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In my opinion, Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko is a truly excellent drama! I thoroughly enjoyed every episode the characters and acting being a high point. The story didn't go in the direction I was expecting - that's for sure, but nevertheless if you want comedy perfectly matched with drama, action, and suspense with real edged-of-your-seat and knot-in-your-throat moments you'll enjoy this!

The Story:
Firstly I've got to say DON'T READ SPOILERS! Don't scroll down to the comments or look for screenshots! You'll thank me later! Some of the best moments come from the crazy twists this drama throws at you. That's partly why the story didn't go in the direction I was expecting.
Episode to episode it's not as over-arching-plot driven as most mysteries. Some may call some KTY episodes 'filler' as it's focus is rarely it's over arching plot. It's focus is instead on it's fantastic characters. You will fall in love with every one of them I guarantee it. No character is cheaply written, every character has real heart behind them and when the mystery does pick up speed in episode 8 you really care about who these people are and what's happening to them.

The Acting:
The acting is phenomenal. Kamenashi really gives it his all and clearly had a blast playing Yamaneko. He goes from goofy comedy, to heat wrenching drama, to back-flippin' action with ease and is supported by a fantastic cast. Narimya perfectly plays the put-upon and abused Katsumura and later in the series really pulls out all the stops. Hirose went way beyond my expectations almost immediately. Sasaki's comic timing is perfect, Otsuka and Nanao also made me love them, and Ikeuchi was perfect. In fact, all these actors and the other supporting/guest actors were so perfectly cast it's astounding!

The Music:
It's certainly not your average jdrama score. The way the orchestral theme music came in every time, either comically or seriously, was perfect and really sets you up for this slightly bizarre drama. The rest of the music throughout the episode is also brilliantly scored, the composer really outdid himself! UNLOCK by KAT-TUN, apart from being one of their best singles (imo), fits nicely into this drama and is never misplaced only ever coming in at the end and never drowns anything out.

Rewatch Value:
While this drama was coming out I was watching every episode two or three times! It's hilarious, cute, and Kame is a lovely bit of eye-candy when he's not acting like a doofus (and sometimes when he is). However as with any mystery once you know then ending and all the twists - watching it from episode one again is a completely different experience. So it's hard to say this is completely rewatchable but I certainly will come back to it in a month or so as it is quite episodic.

Other thoughts:
The ending has been a problem for some people and I can see where they are coming from. When I first watched it I was a bit taken aback. It's not that things are left hanging (though there is room for a sequel). As I said, you really end up loving these characters and to see what happens to them... it's not unsatisfying it's just unexpected. Once I had finally digested the events of the last three episodes I actually think I ended up respecting the show more. As with any show that has twists, things don't always go the way you were expecting.
Speaking of expectations - this drama had far more comedy than I was first l thought it would!

Overall:
This drama really packs a punch. From episode one to ten I was 100% on board loving every second. As a Kame fan I must admit that I sometimes do the very bad thing of skipping every scene Kame is not in. However, with this series I had literally no desire to do that. Every character is well acted and the story is very compelling. I highly recommend this series to anyone be they a Kame fan or not!

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I was first interested because I thought that psychological drama would offer something deep and interesting, and also because the synopsis sounded like a thought provoking drama that would go deeper into things. But that was all false.

Story: First the story and the idea were promising. I was looking forward to how the plot would progress. But as I was watching, I just grew more and more bored. The whole idea just vanished somewhere in the middle, and it felt like the writer just forgot what they were even trying to say. I don't even remember what the underlying idea was, since it's been so long since there was any kind of purpose. There was no idea anymore, and I was left watching two most unoriginal characters falling in love (in most uninteresting way). Which brings me to the next thing ...

Characters: Flat and boring. No dimensions anywhere. There was nothing to wonder or think about. All the characters lacked defining character traits. I was hoping some kind of moral conflict with the main character regarding this whole thing that happened. But she was just annoyingly goodie goodie the whole time. They could've played a lot more with the characters and the plot. There was nothing really memorable about the characters. ESPECIALLY the main characters. Actually, the most interesting character was the villain, even though he lacked personality too. I don't think there was anything wrong with the actors or acting, it's just that the characters were really uninteresting. At least second lead's couple had some interesting conflict and interactions, but the main couple were whining about who gets to keep a flower or who sleeps on the sofa. Please.

More about the story: Some scenes were almost comical, even though they were supposed to be serious. I couldn't take it seriously, and I was just left rolling eyes confusingly. Dramas don't have to be necessarily realistic, but at least make them believable. This drama didn't even try to make sense. And ohmylife, the unnecessary scenes that didn't play any type of role in the plot... This drama just made staring at the walls interesting. There were some nice scenes, mainly at the beginning, but the latter half just ruined the wholeness.

I just hope every single drama writer could adopt this simple rule to their daily lives: if it doesn't take the plot forward, DON'T ADD THAT SCENE. But I guess they have a certain amount of time that has to be filled... But then you should use your IMAGINATION. Ahhh, whatever. I'm so done with this. I'm so done. Cheers to this ''amazing'' drama.

And what was that stupid cliche ending? After all this disappointment, you go and disappoint me even more with your meaningless supposedly philosophical discovery about how meaning of life is to live and be happy? I mean... Just wow, I have never witnessed this type of genius before.
Of course every drama don't have to make me re think everything I know about life, but at least don't pretend to be deep and BE ENTERTAINING. This was just boring. And just like I said earlier, made staring at the walls interesting. I already discovered the many shades of white my walls have that I never knew about before watching this drama.

Since this review has been so negative, should I say something positive too? Hmm... Good looking cast?

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I was really excited to watch this drama after watching some of the romantic scenes. I grew very excited and finished the drama in two days! But I was very disappointed with the ending... I'm really sorry to say, but it could have been better. I thought that the drama was good and all, but that ending really hit my heart and made me mad, and my heart was crushed.... Overall, the beginning of the drama + the romantic lovey dovey scenes were perfect, (I totally fangirled over every scene) but I really hated the ending. Right now I'm very sad...... I had such high hopes for this drama...

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