Reviews

Please Watch!

Kamen Rider Kuuga is a masterpiece. Godai is one of the greatest Riders I have watched up to this point. His chemistry with Ichijo is superb. The mystery around the belt and the appearances of the villains is interesting and actively studied by the cast. The personal interactions and drama are fantastic and heartwarming, and while they may be a mix of connected and disconnected from the overall interactions with the villains, they still are representative of Godai as a Rider and are emblematic to the story itself, meaning they don't feel shallow or fully irrelevant to the plot. Kuuga's design is simple but effective. The interactions of the villains with their own cypher language are fun and tense and interesting. Action scenes, while perhaps not always flashy and can be somewhat short, are good all the same. The ending is handled with an interesting, almost artsy grace that gives the story even more gravitas. The OP is absolutely stellar and the ED is comforting. Overall, a fantastically told story, one of the greatest Kamen Riders to date.

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A Good Entry, Despite Flaws

Geats is a clumsy story, but a fun one. With a great OP and an interesting concept, relating to winning a sort of Death Game to get a wish, it ends up being a very interesting form of Kamen Rider as they combat each other for the sake of winning. However, it doesn't stick with this concept the whole way through the story and ends up changing to focus less on the aspect of a battle royale and more like a standard Kamen Rider story. This ended up disappointing me somewhat. Characters have decent chemistry, though at times it can be somewhat flat and businesslike for a large majority of the series. Suit designs have great potential to be interesting as it begins with the concept of item pickups akin to a video game, but again it ends up being tossed aside for the sake of consistent, merchandise-worthy forms. Not bad forms, but considering what the series started out as, it ended up disappointing me a bit. Fight choreography goes really hard sometimes, especially when they use the show's gimmicks to set up specific opportunities that would not have been available in other stories. Overall, a story with a lot of potential that does unfortunately fumble the bag.

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Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

There are a lot of good things about this - the acting is solid, especially from Hsiao Hung, who throws himself 110% into the role. His character can be a little OTT, but he pulls it off, and he has really good comic timing.

The story and writing are not the strongest aspect of this - it leans way, way too heavily on misunderstanding, which is a particular crutch of Asian drama. Shang Zhou's emotional constipation is well-supported, and it's clear his character was formed by an unloving mother, so I did buy that, but it's carried too far - there is a situation in particular that could have been solved by a "yes" or even a subtle nod of his head, and Shun Yu's misunderstanding of the situation is less explainable and comes off as forced drama.

This works well as a comedy, but the problem is that it veers to heavily into drama, which is tonally dissonant and none of the drama is sufficiently supported.

What might have worked better is to have made the mother a more central villain, and made her the obstacle that had to be overcome, rather than really stupid misunderstandings. That would aslo have made Shun Yu's "boss moment" in the final confrontation with her much more satisfying. It was very well-acted, and it was quite a moment to see him finally become confident in love, but if there had been more of a development arc to that point it would have had a larger payoff.

The interaction between the two as a couple at the end was some of the best I've ever seen in a BL, with both of them acting like men, and not shying away from affection, There's no sex, but the way they hug and touch each other is uninhibited and convincing.

I really hope to see Hsiao Hung again - he's really talented, not to mention beautiful and hot. That skin is like porcelain.

Anyway, there is a lot of frustration in the second half, but the payoff in the finale is quite good, so I can recommend this, although there are some parts you might want to ff through.

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Drearily dull drama

I gave a sigh of relief when finally Ep50 landed on our screen . No more of this family saga of cardboard characters with no backbones and with insipid smiles . I did not like it but wanted to see if it improved with the development of the story but it never did . It dragged on and on . There was no chemistry between the two main characters . Heavens know why they fell in love ! They stand apart and look at each other with languor , or sit side by side in their matching pyjamas pretending to be a couple ! Baek Jin Hee as Yeon-doo spends her time apologising right left and centre to everyone ! False humility becomes sickening . He , as Tae Kyung , lacks not only charisma , but clout and resolve to escape from the control of his family. Only the older characters as mothers and grandmother have a bit of fire in them . As to the villains of the play , they are so unlikable , you can't wait to see the back of them . A waste of time . Not re watchable .

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"Do you hear it? this sound, the flowers sound"

This is not a proper review just my first thought now that I finished it and without spoilers.
Just finished it, it didn't take me long to finish this wonderful drama considering how I had to pause it many times for a short moments to heal of the much sadness and furstrating it gave me(especial in part2). I was struggling to find a TOP K-drama recently, to add to my TOP K-dramas list, but I found what I was looking for here.
I always knew how great diverse actor NGM is, he conviced me in a psycho, evil, comedy, romance, melodrama and action roles. But seeing him in melo romance will always be my favorite, because his eyes say a lot that many other actors can't say with their mouths. He deliver his lines to us through his eyes before openning his mouth. His character here will be one of the most perfect ML we ever had.
AEJ, first saw her on HP she was great, but seeing her as a FL here gave her more space to show her talent, very proud of her performance, it's not easy to show that you're a good actress in front of NGM but she did it. YGC character is one of the best well written characters, she wasn't perfect she had many flows especially her actions at the beginning but she had great character developpement and she is a survivor, strong FL that makes hard decisions and bears the consequences.
The plot wasn't perfect, but it was the closest to perfection that I saw for a while now. It made me care, feel furstrated, angry, sad, happy... and that's more than enough. 10/10 For me.

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Imperfect Allegory Against An Imperfect World

Kamen Rider Black Sun is a work I highly admire, despite the issues it has. The story is intense and gritty, and it's very admirable of them to go so hard into the ideas of prejudice, classism, racism, and social justice. It feels like an important story to tell. However, at times it can get a bit lost in the weeds when it comes to its storytelling, with frequent timeskips and issues with pacing in its 10 episode run. There's some reveals later on that can lead to the story feeling confused, but still holding the spirit of wanting to fight against social injustice, which is good. The suit designs tend towards the positive - most of them look very cool, with some looking kind of goofy and pulling me out of the general dark feeling the series tended towards. The action, while sparse, is very impressive, and the gore and blood throughout is shocking and a fresh change from the mainline series only showing blood via makeup for the most part. The main theme can get a bit tiring to hear repeatedly, but it's a cool song and it still does feel satisfying to hear during certain moments. This is one of the series that feels least like it's trying to sell me a toy, that's for sure. It feels mature, but a bit uncoordinated.

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Frustrating Series With Amazing Designs

Kamen Rider Agito is a very hard watch. It sets itself up well enough, with mystery and intrigue surrounding it, a STELLAR opening song, and overall several very well-designed suits for the main Riders. However, what ends up happening is that the series meanders for a majority of its run time. It feels like very few of the characters in the series have actual agency - they are moreso waiting for any big events to happen and then reacting to them. In the case of the main character he feels so detached that he barely seems to do anything related to the main mystery for a large portion of the story and is essentially just pulled towards every fight. Its predecessor Kuuga also has a mystery, but what makes it compelling in Kuuga is the main characters actively researching the mystery at hand and actively going to defeat the monsters of their own accord. Agito makes these characters do so seemingly out of instinct instead, being far more passive characters, whose interpersonal drama is overall pretty bland and uninteresting for a large majority of the run time. Not to mention only one of the three main characters really seem to do any research into the main mystery and their progress is quite slow and brooding. The show drags its feet quite often. It's a very mixed bag.

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BEST THAI BL 2023

Did GMMTV save the best series for the last months this year cos Last Twilight is realllyy giiivvviiinnggg.

If Last Twilight can be this good, then I have no doubt Cherry Magic Th and Cooking Crush will also be good.

This drama has restored all hope that I had already lost from GMMTV this year.

A soft drama with no complex plot and story. Every emotion is being felt down to the soul. The story, the acting, the ost, everything is just so on point. The chemistry between Mhok and Day is just too real to be ignored.

I am so glad I get to watch this and if you’re thinking about watching it, think no further, just start. It’s sooo good

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Good but shy of Great

On the positive side are the three main characters and their shared shattered backgrounds from their childhoods. Over several episodes they are brought back together and their shared pasts are unlayered through a series of satisfying reveals. The support acting was well done and other overall production values high.

On the bad side the antagonist was so powerful - as we learn through slow reveals - that we wondered how they planned to defeat him. This is the main flaw in the show - a structural problem is that the main characters and we the audience never understand the how and why the big bad can be defeated. In an early episode it's said they will exorcise him/it when they catch him/it. At times they behave like impulsive middle schoolers talking about catching the bad guy with no clear idea what they'll do with him should that happen. There are scenes where they rush towards the big bad, especially true for the taxi driver, Hwa Pyung, with absolutely no expressed plan how to get through bodyguards or other obstacles or what happens when they 'catch' him.

One common problem with media centered on exorcism is that they contain exorcism scenes in which the priest or shaman endlessly chants some holy words that fail over and over and over until they work - or not. This show has the same flaw in that we (and the main characters) never learn (until they very end) what MacGuffin - thing or rule or process - will defeat the big bad evil spirit, and in fact as the episodes progress it becomes obvious that the big bad, Park Il-Do, is seriously powerful and far stronger than we were given to believe in early episodes.

And because of this structural flaw the close had to - literally - reveal a Deus Ex Machina. Notice the prayer the priest uses at the very end in the water. He calls upon God directly, and God delivers. And the last scene where the three are reunited is as pure DEM as it gets given where we last saw Hwa-Pyung.

Despite the serious structural flaw the good (main character arcs, relationships, story arc) out weighs the bad for at least one watch through.

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Full of potential but unfortunate execution

This title I honestly had high expectations for, as I do for any production that Namkoong min is a part of , as he is a wonderful actor, picking scripts with emotional flair and fun scenes and is someone I would say this role is perfect for.

The show started off with great promise. But honestly, it required a 16 episode run time. After a while, we stop seeing any episodes of actually legal drama, which is what the show is about, and the product placement is somehow the worst I’ve seen thus far.

Not to mention, the entire past flashback sequence was incredibly out of place and contrived. Post flashback story was rushed, and I didn’t think they’d wrap up the story until half way through the twelfth episode, which is the last. It was handled poorly as well.

Now as for things I liked, namkoong min, obviously. His performance as always was stellar. Baek Ma-ri was a fun character, as was her mother. I really liked prosecutor Na Yejin, and I thought Seo Minhyeok was a good character as well who deserved if not more screen time, then at least more character development.
I also was unreasonably in love with the opening intro song and the accompanying animation. This would have been great as a long running short animation tv show.

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Kamen Rider 1971 - An Aged Titan

The original Kamen Rider 1971 cannot be understated as an incredibly important pillar of pop culture in Japan and beyond. The series that truly started it all. With its iconic design of the original Kamen Rider (referred to as Ichigo) and the subsequent second Rider (referred to as Nigo), it paved the way for a founding father in the tokusatsu genre. However, it's a difficult beast to talk about, because while charming, it is incredibly flawed. The series starts very strongly, with a lean towards horror. It was always monster-of-the-week, but what made it interesting early on was how it leaned into the fear of everyone involved. Even the main character, Ichigo, has internal fears that are set up early on. However, as the series progresses, in order to stay on the air it had to be changed to be more lighthearted. Unfortunately this drops a lot of the overt story of Kamen Rider 1971 and ends up making it an incredibly repetitive watch, as plot only truly progresses about once every thirty episodes or so, and with it being the longest Kamen Rider series on its own (not including sequel shows like Black & Black RX or Kuuga & Agito) it can sometimes be a gauntlet. Make no mistake, this show is NOT made to be binged AT ALL. And while it feels unfair of me to review a show made 52 years ago as if it was made in the modern era, we have to concede that our perception of these things, including the very way in which it is viewed, has fundamentally changed since its creation. We have to acknowledge the way that these things change, and that includes the franchise itself as it progresses. At this point, while this is the originator of all Kamen Riders, I would in no way say it is a good first show to watch for inquisitive minds interested in the franchise due to its inability to be enjoyably be watched in succession like some others. It is an entertaining watch in short bursts, but mind-numbing when watched too quickly. If you do watch it, try not to binge it to get through it. Take sips, don't chug. Enjoy the fun and crunchy practical effects and the inventive ways they get around having zero budget. The camp can be fun, the designs can be silly, and it can be a series that gets a good laugh or two, even if unintentionally. But if you are tempted to watch it quickly to get to some of the other stuff in the franchise, it will become a difficult watch as the formulaic nature of the series turns your brain into putty.

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some cute parts (watch suggestions)

Overall: cliched conflicts weighed down the otherwise cute plot. 10 episodes about 25 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala & Viki. The production company also made: Stay By My Side, You Are Mine and Anti Reset (airing in 2024).

Watch Suggestions (unless you enjoy slow pacing and cliched drama)
- watch ep 1 & 2
- skip ep 3
- watch ep 4
- skip ep 5
- could skip ep 6, there is a cameo from the You Are Mine leads and a cute sick/caring scene around 12 minutes but stop at 16 minutes to avoid useless family drama
- skip ep 7 & 8
- watch ep 9 (can also start at 8 minutes and watch thru to the end) and episode 10

Content Warnings: homophobic remark, dub/non con kissing, vomiting

What I Liked
- cute moments
- facial hair (and it looks really good) on a lead
- supportive/wingman friend
- two side characters (though zero screen time in episode 5-8 and only a little bit before then)
- cameo of You Are Mine actors in ep 6 and 10
- that Liu Li stood up to the mom

Room For Improvement
- the whole drunk cliche
- the waiter's rude comment would have made more sense if there were a bunch of people in the restaurant and some were leaving because they couldn't find a place to sit, also the animal sanctuary could have used a few extras as well
- in episode 5 the dub/non con kissing was uncomfortable to watch as was the freeze kiss in ep 4
- instead of introducing that character in ep 6 they could have developed the sassy waiter and the upbeat friend (who basically vanished from the series)
- camerawork sometimes moved too much/had odd angles
- slow pacing
- two grown men fought like middle schoolers over another man as if he was property and not a person, tried to be comedic but failed
- noble idiocy

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Disappointed

Last year, when I heard that Jane The Virgin was getting a korean adaptation I was happy because it's one of the rare american show that I finished. But then I completly forgot about it, until 6 days ago. Iwas updating my rating list and I saw Woori The Virigin and I was shocked with the rating. I couldn't be that bad right ? How can this get a lower rating than Love Alarm. After I watched and finished the kdrama today, here's my feeling towards it.

I never rated a drama below 6 stars. I'm someone that rarely dislike romance drama, because romance is my thing. The plot can be meh and I will still stay for the romance. Also my toxic trait is to finish kdrama until the end even thought, it's trash (there's exceptions lol). BUT this drama was truly a waste of time. It started so good, but became boring around episode 6-7.

(SPOILER)
Lowkey I just hate it because she didn't end up Raphael, but the with one who at first didn't want the baby and wanted her to abort. I know it's the most realistic ending, it's just that I don't watch kdrama for them to be 100% realistic like in real life. I wanted that adventurous romance with Raphael (gotta be honest I cringed so hard when sang for her and when he proposed with a choregraphy).

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