Reviews

ISHIHARA SATOMI AS HEALTHCARE WORKERS (FOR THE 2937239 TIME)

the first akiko nogi's work i watched and still my favorite drama of hers. there is a quality in her work that made me wants to stay tune, i don't know, it's probably because i feel like her vision and my vision as a viewer is aligned and we both want the same thing for society. she slipped social commentary here and there but unfortunately, she shied away a little bit on hard topic, which i tolerate, because japan has a very preventive culture towards several topics.

Ishihara Satomi is, at this point, a skilled health worker at this point. she has became doctors, forensic doctor, pharmacist, it's crazy how she played the entire hospital at this point. not a shade tho, i just found this funny. and she is always charming in every role she played, so it's just okay. her chemistry with the male chracters are all so funny too! also 'Lemon' as unnatural ost is and will always be my favorite song ever! kenshi yonezu rocks!

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JOY TO THOSE WHO LIKE PROGRESSIVE JDRAMA PLOTLINE

This, Unnatural, and Married as a Job have hit the nail in the coffin as hands down my favorite Akiko Nogi's works, and also making Akiko nogi as my favorite screenwriter, alongside Kim Eun Sook and Greta Gerwig.

It's typical buddy cop drama with opposite leads (hotheaded one vs lethargic one). ayano and hoshino encapsulated this stereotypical trope perfectly, their chemistry top-notch. What made this drama different with thousands others of comedic cop drama is that they actually touch different aspects in japanese society that is rarely being exposed at all, because jdorama (as much as i know) tended to "shy away" from hard hitting topic. This is what I like about Akiko Nogi's works.

all in all, im giving it overall 8.

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This drama is just my type, with a slice of life genre I enjoyed watching this. I would say this is not for everyone, but for me the pacing is good and discusses the reality of Korean society. The taboos and problems presented are sensitive but they portrayed it in a good way, with comedy into it so it is somehow accepting. The "drinking solo" theme particularly in every episode expression is also good part to me. What made this drama enjoyable as well is the side characters. They are consistent and even Key who is not an actor did well here acting wise. For me, it was an interesting drama and I would recommend this to others, but more likely those who like this type of genres.

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Amazing to spread awareness of drugs if it reached the right audience in the right way

I understand that they wanted to bring up the issue of drugs and spread some awareness, all the suffering it causes because it was really disturbing seeing people getting addicted to them and behaving senselessly under its impact.
But it is really an immature action by the writing and directing team for making the role of the drug dealer oh-so glamorous and pitiful to create discussions and mixed opinions. Because, rather than understanding the main importance of the drama, those unnecessary scenes of the so-called romance and chemistry and his past has diverted the attention to the villian.

Every person has a hard life but what makes heroes and villains polar apart is that heroes feel content by being selfless and helping others, and we humans are not capable of being as selfless as them because we are not perfect and selfless as them. But villains are villains because they value their emotions more than others and moral conduct. We people have both good and bad in us, but what eventually makes us good or bad is what we decide to follow despite how our life has been. Modern-day romanticisation of villains and evil characters has become extreme. In modern times, it is taught that it is ok to not be ok and to have flaws, but I don't understand how a person is able to forgive an evil man after all his wrong doings.
Has everyone clearly forgotten basic humanity, treating him like a total victim by considering all the people he had affected just for his business as pigs for slaughter. Like do they not have a life and family too? What is so important in this man that he can affect and kill people just like that as if they are minfless dirt under his shoes?
Yes, he had a traumatizing past that no one should ever experience, but what gives him the right to give such an experience to everyone around him?

I can understand if fans find the cast's acting cringy because they just want the female idol to be a relatable, hopless romantic, funny person and fall for the handsome, charming male lead and have lots of chemistry. But this drama is not the typical romance drama that you are looking for. The actual male lead of the drama is a true hero who protected the female lead, helped her when in need, trully cared for, while the villian only found her as an asset because of her powers, testing her for her limits, plotting her family's murder, threatening her with drugs. But people find this to be true love and call her out for betraying him... I mean, what else could she have done instead? What would you have done? Would you also abandon your loving and caring parents for a druggie and drug dealer who is anyday ready to kill people and treat you torturously if you disappoint them?

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Lacking compared to part1

My review is for the second half of the drama rather than the entire drama. I quite loved the first half (part 1) but this second half (part 2) was so much more weaker.

The first 3 episodes are decent, there are light moments (when you compare to the tragedies of the first part) and hope. But episodes 4 - 9 were such a drag to watch. You get brief moments of happiness and then problems. To the point that it seemed like a never-ending mess. I was prepared for a tragic ending. Apart from that, the story was really moving slowly with not much happening. You can easily watch these episodes on 2x because everyone talks so slowly.

Some of the characters really annoyed me. One being the king. He was so hell bent on retaining power and his position that he lost trust in everyone including his ministers, his son, and his people. To target his own people who already faced so much was simply unforgiveable according to me. What does loyalty mean if the other party unreasonably wants to sentence you to death in order to feel "peace"?

The other character was the scholar who acted all noble and could see that the king's fears are driving him to cruelty and he made the same exact choices by giving into his unreasonable fears. Though it just proved that he was always a cruel man and he never regretted his part mistakes. He would repeat them again without much hesitation.

Finally, it was Officer Gu, who we all knew was not worthy of marrying Gil Chae.

It's easy to blame the "barbarians" for the sufferings of the people of Joseon but this part highlighted that the people of Joseon were far more cruel to their own. They abandoned their own family and wives and sisters and daughters if they deemed them to be "tainted" and were obsessed with keeping Joseon "clean". They were willing to kill their own by labelling them as traitors without proof. They forced women to kill themselves. They humiliated anyone who survived. They truly disgusted me because instead of easing each others suffering and giving each other comfort after all the hardships and sorrows, they rejected and ridiculed them instead. They didn't allow their own people to heal. So the real traitors were the ones who escaped "unscathed". Problem is, I don't know if majority of the audience will understand this because of the way it was presented. Unless you can relate to being "othered" in your own country, it's unlikely that most of the audience will understand this aspect of the story because of the way it is presented. It will probably get sidelined as an aspect of war.

The last two episodes were the best compared to the rest of this part. Though there are again unnecessary hurdles and part of me wanted to know what happened to all the politics that we were forced to suffer through, I am glad we were not forced to suffer more on the leads' story front. If not for the last 2 episodes, I would have certainly scored this part lower just for those middle episodes. The male lead also said and did all the right things and he truly was a blessing for everyone. The growth of the female lead was also nice to see and a good contrast between part 1 and 2.

One aspect they glossed over is what exactly happened to Ryang Eum.

The OST of this show continues to be enjoyable.

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A Journey to be Remembered

"A Journey to Love" is an impressive story that effortlessly weaves threads of romance, character development, and self-discovery into an emotional entanglement where you, the viewer, journey along 40 episodes to fall in love with the characters.

While the backdrop is the political struggles between An and Wu, with the intrusive final invasion of the BeiPan army, it is the journeying clan that, in my opinion, captivates audiences. Liu Shishi plays the strong female lead, an assassin perfectly. However, I did find her obsession to seek revenge for the empress a tad forced in scripting.

The camaraderie between the Liu Dao Tang brothers was the true highlight for me. Each was such a round character, but it was YSS who made the episodes extra delightful.

The martial arts choreography is probably some of the best, if not the best, I've ever seen in c-drama. And while the BGM is overused and did get a tad annoying, it nevertheless served its purpose and accentuated the action scenes perfectly.

The ending, while not for everyone, I guess was tragically fitting, Although, I do wish they spared YSS, but that would perhaps make it too complete. At least YSS and YL live on, by name, in the form of Ning Shi San and his sister Ren Lu.

Definitely a drama worth watching and will, without doubt, be remembered as one of the best offered in 2023.

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Mixed Feelings, but I'd say...I still love the couple!

I mean..it's not the best BL made for sure, but it isn't as bad as what the comments made it to be.

There's no major plot twist or dramatic events, but there is a storyline.

The storyline is exactly as synopsis says, it's about the courtship of main couple!

I love how the romantic tension is building up one episode after another. I feel like I get to enjoy their process of falling in love, all over again. It's a very sweet, romantic, fluffy, and even cute feelings.

Well, Vee's acting is awkward but Sky's acting is real good. I wanna see Sky more in other BL, i don't mind him with other pairing!

Sky's acting is really good. I can see it when he's tired with his sleepy eyes, and feel it when he says he loves Vee, I can even feel it when he's hor*ny...LOL... Seriously, his face shows everything. For this reason, it makes it easy to watch the show for me. Plus, he's really hot and good looking

I enjoyed the courtship, and how they got together and the X scenes at episode 9 is hot af. I also like some of the real life issues they tackle for all 3 couples, which are pretty realistic.

At least, these couples do communicate, which makes this BL a healthier ones than others.

Honestly, I was really enjoying the 1st 6 episodes, like a lot! Up till then, I wonder why people didn't like it, and then...i realized why after that...it gets draggy afterwards lol.

It could probably be real nice with 8 episodes top. The build up for 1st half of show is really great and then everyone should just have happy ending, rather than having introduced random cases towards the end just to make it up to 10 episodes.

I dropped at 9 episodes, can u imagine? I usually would have finished watching it with 1 episode left, but I don't bother anymore.

So...I'd still recommend you try watching it if you want a "feel good" BL where you don't have to worry about someone cheating, or overthink what's gonna happen, but just basking in their love.

Again, all the 3 couples are pretty cool, I just find that it'd be nice if it's shorter, but actually, if you break it down and look at each couple's story, I can understand why they make it to 10 episodes

Judge it for yourself, you can always drop the show!

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As with others, I think this drama is pretty good. With only a short web drama having 7 episodes with 15 minute run, I think it is worth my time. The drama also involves sad and serious issues which is a good part of the drama. It was short but left an impact to me. The leads also have that chemistry but acting wise, they are still lacking. I think it's because they are still new to my eyes. The main male lead is pretty familiar to me as I have seen him in other dramas. The ending is pretty much confusing since it is open ended, which for me should have been better. Overall, I would recommend.

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It is really good but it is missing something...

To start of, I like a lot about this show. I like the main couple, the other 2 side couples but I hoped the would have gotten together faster. I really love the whole ost, especially those the male lead sang and the opening song. I love the leads and the whole cast. This is also a 0 break up drama. The last few minutes of the last episode were very enriching, it gave a very nice closure to the show with "introduction" of the character.
However, what took the 0.5 from this show for me was that I find that 仪式感 ( I am not going to explain the dictionary version of this word but to put it in layman terms, with this drama as the background, a ring or any accessory were not shown in the drama to show that they were getting married. They went to take wedding pictures which were sweet but a ring would have made the story more completed ) was not portrayed in this.

My PERSONAL opinion NOT related to the drama:
[Of course, it is not just about a/the ring, I find that this year some dramas, when they confess, it is very casual in a sense, different from like dramas up to last year. I really hope that dramas do not take this path where confessing and proposing become a bit too casual cause it is kind of a big part in the whole story and in real life. ]

I might have gotten a little carried away but I want to say that this show is really good apart from the lack of formality, I find.
I really recommend this though. All of the cast did a really great job portraying all their characters. It is a MUST-WATCH.
Definitely watch this show and decide for yourself whether it is good or not. If you read, thanks for your time!

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This drama was huge before and I did watch this because of the hype. Shin Min Ah and So Ji Sub as leads is a once in a lifetime occurrence so it was a must for me to watch the drama. With the genre of romantic-comedy, it was an okay and good drama. The incorporation of transformation is also a good plotline for me. The chemistry of the leads is also undeniable. One of the things that made this drama enjoyable as well is the bromance. I did feel that this is not one of the best dramas I have seen. It falls on the okay drama and I would recommend this especially to beginners.

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A soft yet healing drama

If you're looking for a drama that has beautiful shots, soothes the viewer and is perfect with a hot cup of tea or coffee whilst crocheting/knitting, then this is it. A plotline that builds bit by bit and culminates in the end in a somewhat soothing fashion. You grieve as they grieve, cry as they cry, and rejoice in the scenery and moments of courage.

I enjoyed the character development and I definitely think it is the kind of drama you watch as you do something else, with a story prominent enough to stretch over a long period of time. While it might not hook you like it didn't hook me either, there's just something about its style that makes you not want to let go of it just yet.

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