Reviews

this is my favorite kdrama of all time after years of watching them.

This kdrama was a masterpiece. A combination of mysteries, loves, actions, suspense, everything was perfect. It's rare that I'm not bored at some point during a kdrama, but this one, I was always captivated by what was happening. I think the actors are perfect and they were perfectly chosen to play their roles. I went through all kinds of emotions. I cried, I laughed, I was anxious and the list goes on. This kdrama was perfect. I listen to a lot of different kdramas and this is by far the best I've seen. I don't have enough words to write how I love and admire it. After seeing the ending, I hope there will be a season 2. If you're interested in seeing it, watch it, you won't regret it. I'm so happy to have discovered this kdrama.

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Middleman's Disgrace

It's hard to believe that Middleman's Love and Bed Friend are in any way connected. They're so completely different, it's almost jarring. While I wouldn't say that Middleman's Love was a series I was hotly anticipating, I was curious about it and looking forward to it to some degree. Bed Friend had a host of issues, but Jade was not one of them. I thought Yim's portrayal of him was a bit one note and there just wasn't a whole lot to the character, but with the focus on him and a proper storyline, there was potential. Unfortunately what we got was a complete disaster. Where Bed Friend tried to be darkly sexy with a healthy dose of trauma thrown in, Middleman's love went for a rom-com feel, heavy on the slapstick comedy. It doesn't work and it was almost physically painful to get through. If it was any more than the eight episodes it was, I would have bailed and I very nearly did within the first fifteen minutes, but clung on because of comments that it improved. And while there is some improvement in the last two episodes, it's far too little, too late to make a difference.

The story is a pretty generic office romance between an employee and his intern. It had the potential to be cute, but there's so much crap and unnecessary drama to bog it down that it's anything but. And sometimes that's redeemable if the characters are likeable, but they weren't. I guess there's the theme that there's someone for everyone, but it definitely could have been done better. I was put off almost immediately by the animation sequence that started things off. It was weird and unexpected and pointless. There were a couple more instances of that and they failed to add anything beneficial. They just continued to be weird and pointless. Equally off-putting was the abundance of comedic sound effects. Those were eventually toned down, but still very much overused. Given the title, I anticipated the fact that Jade always found himself in the middle would play a larger role than it did. In effect, it really played no role as it was mentioned a couple times, but that was about it. I think the drama could have been much more interesting if they had leaned into that concept and how always being in the middle really affected Jade. The NSFW scenes were...interesting to say the least. The scene between Gus and Tong felt abrupt. There had been the whole push and pull between them for a while, but when they finally got to the point where they were a couple, they immediately jumped into bed. To me, it felt out of character and out of place. Jade and Mai's scenes were even more out of character. Considering how Jade is Jade and that he was a virgin, the level of sensuality he gave was not believable to me. There needed to be some awkwardness and fumbling and not straight to sex god. Also going to say that the two of them eating the rose was just weird. There were, however, a couple things that I did appreciate like the theme of consent that continued over from Bed Friend. Gus actually verbally giving consent to Tong was nice to see. I also really liked both Jade's and Mai's families and how supportive and loving they were. With Jade's family, the conversation they had where they acknowledged his feelings was very well done and I wish we'd had more scenes like that.

The characters were pretty much irredeemable trash.
-Jade in Bed Friend was cute, a bit quirky and eccentric, but not in a bad or obnoxious way. He was a good, loyal friend who seemed to have a solid head on his shoulders. But with this series, it's like they took his eccentricities and magnified them a thousand times to the point where it didn't even seem to be the same character. And that was a major downfall because Jade ended up feeling more like a caricature than a character. He was loud, awkward, and painfully self-conscious, not at all cute. Other than getting over his fear of rejection to pursue Mai, there was very little character development. There was a lot of potential for Jade and if they had retained his original character, I think the romance between him and Mai could have been quite sweet.
-Mai was a besotted puppy who truly was essentially perfect. He was not one of those characters who seems perfect on the outside, but as things progress his flaws are shown. No, he was portrayed as being the perfect employee, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect son, everything. He lacked any kind of dimension or interest. He revolved around Jade and that was it.
-Ueau and King returned to serve as love advisors for Jade and Mai. We didn't get to see a whole lot of them outside that role, but the few moments we did revolved around petty drama. The fact that Ueau couldn't have a simple conversation with another man without King getting his hackles up was absurd. And while Ueau was still pretty much himself, they neutered King. In Bed Friend, he was confident and sexy, and while he pretty much always caved to Ueau, he had a personality and was his own man. Middleman's Love saw him turned into a simpering puppy whose most frequent line was calling Ueau Teerak (darling). Sort of cute the first time or two, but it quickly became redundant. He as a name, King, consider using it. Also, be done with the jealousy. It's not cute.
-Gus and Tong were a cute secondary couple, but their back and forth and where they stood got confusing at times. It would seem like they were getting somewhere and then next scene Gus would be sulking for some inexplicable reason. They needed more screen time to really build on their relationship. Also found Tong's comment that Gus never annoyed him and that he was just foul-mouthed to be utter BS. You were acting very annoyed a time or two there, sir, being foul-mouthed had nothing to do with it.

I'm not going to hate on the actors because they had garbage to work with. The script was a disaster and should have been shredded then burnt. Watching the behind the scenes, you can see how much effort they put into it, but there was just no saving it. As much as I couldn't stand Jade, I will give Yim all the kudos because I can only imagine how hard portraying him was. Playing high energy characters like that is exhausting, but he remained consistent. Tutor, again, just had nothing to work with. I know he's a good actor, but there were so many close ups that I don't think he had a chance to really spread his wings. He wasn't wooden though which he easily could have been and there was expression in his eyes so I'll give him that.

The production needs to be fired. How they looked at any of this and thought, yeah, this looks great is beyond me. They let down their actors who deserved so much better and they let down the fans who had been looking forward to this. There were some awkward scene cuts as well as a few scene jumps that didn't help matters and made the story progression more confusing than it needed to be. The opening credits with the bobbleheads was not cute or funny, just bad. That was one of my first indications that this series was not going to be what I expected. And the music, particularly during the NSFW scenes was either forgettable or distracting. For the NSFW scenes, it didn't fit and I ended up muting eventually. I don't understand why they feel music is necessary for those kinds of scenes. If you have to have it, use instrumental pieces, it flows better.

To sum it up, Middleman's Love was a dumpster fire that should never have been made as is. The few cute or wholesome scenes are buried so deep, you have to sift through a mountain of garbage to find them. This is such a case of wasted potential and I hope Tutor, Yim and the other actors are given better opportunities to show their talents cause this was not it.

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Middleman's Disgrace

It's hard to believe that Middleman's Love and Bed Friend are in any way connected. They're so completely different, it's almost jarring. While I wouldn't say that Middleman's Love was a series I was hotly anticipating, I was curious about it and looking forward to it to some degree. Bed Friend had a host of issues, but Jade was not one of them. I thought Yim's portrayal of him was a bit one note and there just wasn't a whole lot to the character, but with the focus on him and a proper storyline, there was potential. Unfortunately what we got was a complete disaster. Where Bed Friend tried to be darkly sexy with a healthy dose of trauma thrown in, Middleman's love went for a rom-com feel, heavy on the slapstick comedy. It doesn't work and it was almost physically painful to get through. If it was any more than the eight episodes it was, I would have bailed and I very nearly did within the first fifteen minutes, but clung on because of comments that it improved. And while there is some improvement in the last two episodes, it's far too little, too late to make a difference.

The story is a pretty generic office romance between an employee and his intern. It had the potential to be cute, but there's so much crap and unnecessary drama to bog it down that it's anything but. And sometimes that's redeemable if the characters are likeable, but they weren't. I guess there's the theme that there's someone for everyone, but it definitely could have been done better. I was put off almost immediately by the animation sequence that started things off. It was weird and unexpected and pointless. There were a couple more instances of that and they failed to add anything beneficial. They just continued to be weird and pointless. Equally off-putting was the abundance of comedic sound effects. Those were eventually toned down, but still very much overused. Given the title, I anticipated the fact that Jade always found himself in the middle would play a larger role than it did. In effect, it really played no role as it was mentioned a couple times, but that was about it. I think the drama could have been much more interesting if they had leaned into that concept and how always being in the middle really affected Jade. The NSFW scenes were...interesting to say the least. The scene between Gus and Tong felt abrupt. There had been the whole push and pull between them for a while, but when they finally got to the point where they were a couple, they immediately jumped into bed. To me, it felt out of character and out of place. Jade and Mai's scenes were even more out of character. Considering how Jade is Jade and that he was a virgin, the level of sensuality he gave was not believable to me. There needed to be some awkwardness and fumbling and not straight to sex god. Also going to say that the two of them eating the rose was just weird. There were, however, a couple things that I did appreciate like the theme of consent that continued over from Bed Friend. Gus actually verbally giving consent to Tong was nice to see. I also really liked both Jade's and Mai's families and how supportive and loving they were. With Jade's family, the conversation they had where they acknowledged his feelings was very well done and I wish we'd had more scenes like that.

The characters were pretty much irredeemable trash.
-Jade in Bed Friend was cute, a bit quirky and eccentric, but not in a bad or obnoxious way. He was a good, loyal friend who seemed to have a solid head on his shoulders. But with this series, it's like they took his eccentricities and magnified them a thousand times to the point where it didn't even seem to be the same character. And that was a major downfall because Jade ended up feeling more like a caricature than a character. He was loud, awkward, and painfully self-conscious, not at all cute. Other than getting over his fear of rejection to pursue Mai, there was very little character development. There was a lot of potential for Jade and if they had retained his original character, I think the romance between him and Mai could have been quite sweet.
-Mai was a besotted puppy who truly was essentially perfect. He was not one of those characters who seems perfect on the outside, but as things progress his flaws are shown. No, he was portrayed as being the perfect employee, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect son, everything. He lacked any kind of dimension or interest. He revolved around Jade and that was it.
-Ueau and King returned to serve as love advisors for Jade and Mai. We didn't get to see a whole lot of them outside that role, but the few moments we did revolved around petty drama. The fact that Ueau couldn't have a simple conversation with another man without King getting his hackles up was absurd. And while Ueau was still pretty much himself, they neutered King. In Bed Friend, he was confident and sexy, and while he pretty much always caved to Ueau, he had a personality and was his own man. Middleman's Love saw him turned into a simpering puppy whose most frequent line was calling Ueau Teerak (darling). Sort of cute the first time or two, but it quickly became redundant. He as a name, King, consider using it. Also, be done with the jealousy. It's not cute.
-Gus and Tong were a cute secondary couple, but their back and forth and where they stood got confusing at times. It would seem like they were getting somewhere and then next scene Gus would be sulking for some inexplicable reason. They needed more screen time to really build on their relationship. Also found Tong's comment that Gus never annoyed him and that he was just foul-mouthed to be utter BS. You were acting very annoyed a time or two there, sir, being foul-mouthed had nothing to do with it.

I'm not going to hate on the actors because they had garbage to work with. The script was a disaster and should have been shredded then burnt. Watching the behind the scenes, you can see how much effort they put into it, but there was just no saving it. As much as I couldn't stand Jade, I will give Yim all the kudos because I can only imagine how hard portraying him was. Playing high energy characters like that is exhausting, but he remained consistent. Tutor, again, just had nothing to work with. I know he's a good actor, but there were so many close ups that I don't think he had a chance to really spread his wings. He wasn't wooden though which he easily could have been and there was expression in his eyes so I'll give him that.

The production needs to be fired. How they looked at any of this and thought, yeah, this looks great is beyond me. They let down their actors who deserved so much better and they let down the fans who had been looking forward to this. There were a number of scene cuts that were very awkward and really killed the flow and tone as well as a few scene jumps that were equally awkward. In both cases, they made the story progression more confusing than it needed to be. The opening credits with the bobbleheads was not cute or funny. That was one of my first indications that this series was not going to be what I expected. And the music, particularly during the NSFW scenes was either forgettable or distracting. For the NSFW scenes, it didn't fit and I ended up muting eventually. I don't understand why they feel music is necessary for those kinds of scenes. If you have to have it, use instrumental pieces, it flows better.

To sum it up, Middleman's Love was a dumpster fire that should never have been made as is. The few cute or wholesome scenes are buried so deep, you have to sift through a mountain of garbage to find them. This is such a case of wasted potential and I hope Tutor, Yim and the other actors are given better opportunities to show their talents cause this was not it.

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Even gods and immortals have growing pains

Based upon the novel “Hidden God” (which I never read), this is a sequel to Ancient Love Poetry (with different names for the drama, which is a little confusing). There is nothing particularly groundbreaking about this Xianxia drama, but I found it to be a warm, heartfelt and timeless story of the joys and pains of growing up - learning to love, learning to sacrifice and learning to treasure what you have.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about starting this drama initially. I’ve watched some Xianxia in the past but not as many in the past couple of years. The beginning episodes of this one reminded me of some of the earlier Harry Potter films - lackluster CGI, very young characters and a seemingly simplistic story. However, the strong performances from the cast drew me in, and by the midway point of the drama, you realize there is much more to this tale. While the story centers on Yuanqi and Fengyin’s love story, there are also many other moving story lines involving friendship and kinship. Interwoven are some themes about breaking down the barriers that divide us, cherishing all life, and not using one’s power or position to bully the weak.

This one could have used more post-production time to smooth out the visual effects and sound mix. More importantly, the script could have used another look over to flesh out the deeper thematic elements. However, I found this an engaging, wholesome watch during my winter holidays. There is something ultimately uplifting in this drama’s storytelling despite the many years of suffering experienced by the characters.

Lastly, this is my first time watching Wang Anyu as Gujin/Yuanqi, and his non-pretentious, boyish charm really fits the character well. He and Zhao Lusi make an endearing on-screen couple that brings you both joy and tears. If only there was more of them at the end - maybe another drama? Until then, this is a great one to binge, re-watch and for me sits well with my all-time favorite Xianxia dramas such as Eternal Love (Peach Blossoms), Ashes of Love, Love and Destiny, Love and Redemption and yes, Ancient Love Poetry.

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A very average and short romance drama.

“Since I Met U” is an easy-to-watch romance drama. The plot is simple. It’s not 100% cute and fluffy because there’s a backstory of family trauma and mental illness. But the drama really doesn’t go into details in exploring that. Everything is very surface-level. A cute romance without any angst, misunderstanding or evil ex’s.

The production quality is average. Though the desserts are delicious-looking and ML’s Sol Bakery looks modern and welcoming, you can also see where they skim on money. FL has an awful wardrobe (why is she wearing old lady PJs?), the car riding scenes look pretty ‘green-screened’, and they keep on re-suing the same few filming locations. I personally do not like the dubbing, nor the English theme song that plays pretty loudly and repeatedly.

The acting is decent and not awful, not great. ML is cute and I’m watching this drama for him because I liked him in “Story of Kunning Palace”. We also have the cute kid from “Unforgettable Love” and he’s as cute as ever. There are a few good-looking guys at the bakery and am I sensing a closeted gay couple? I got some vibes from one of the guys. The secondary romance is OK but the tertiary romance is annoying.

Overall, this is a very average drama if you want something simple and short. I was in the mood for a romance drama for stress relief, and this fits the bill.


Completed: 1/5/2024 - Review #390

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I was INSTANTLY hooked

I didn't watch BL dramas for two years and was looking for a BL for days before I found Triage and got hooked immediatly. Amazing production. Great music. Good plot. Amazing cast and great chemistry between the lead actors. Triage has everything. If you're looking for a mystery, time loop romance with lots of suspense THIS IS IT girl. I started episode one of this series and could not stop watching. When I saw that the lead couple was Tee and Tae I was sooo beyond thrilled (and kinda nostalgic too, lol!). Everyone could sense the potential of these guys when they were starring in 2 moons and what a pleasant surprise to see them act as a main couple on such a high-quality production!

You will 100% enjoy watching Triage! xxx

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How a 3 min ending can change your opinion!!!

Honestly saying I never write reviews but this series made me want to write one.
Firstly starting with how I liked this drama
It was 10/10 until the end of the episode even after I saw all the spoilers and people getting disappointed with the drama at the end of the episode I do think that it's not the whole episode but just few minutes which can change your opinion about the whole drama.
Until last few minutes of the series I felt like why??? That just doesn't make sense!!! The game restarts? But all of this question can get its answer if there is a season 2
I personally would like to watch Season 2 with a different game but the plot won't change ik that
anyways I feel like everyone has different opinions and that's why almost all the reviews say that it's disappointing but
well I would like to say give it a go
you won't know it until you watch it

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Had great potential as a story, but was hampered by inflated drama and mediocre writing.

Note: This will more than likely be the only review I ever write as they take a significant amount of time for me to think through and formulate, but I felt that I needed to post this one as this show has merit, but is an extreme disservice to viewer.

To lay my cards out on the table before I dive into my review, I am a professional writer in my 20s, and I’ve been writing since I was nine years old. It is my job as a writer to critique other writers and find the flaws in their stories so that I can learn from their mistakes to improve my own writing.

I have seen Kitagawa—this show’s scriptwriter—’s work from the 90s, and she is by no stretch of the imagination a bad writer. She is quite talented, but every writer has a bad piece of work now and then, and that’s exactly what this shows is.

This show started off with a promising story, but it quickly derailed for a number of reasons, and it got progressively worse.

The first episode was absolutely perfect. Soramame and Oto’s introductions were fantastic, and the tragedy behind Soramame’s backstory was very well done.

I absolutely loved Soramame’s personality in the first episode. She was sweet, sensitive, adorable, and really meshed will with Oto’s character. However, the show starts to derail at the very beginning of the second episode.

Oto’s character stays exactly the same throughout the entire duration of the show, but Soramame’s character does a complete 180. She is no longer upset over her childhood first love breaking off his engagement to her because he found a new girl.

Soramame is no longer sweet and passive towards Oto. She is now aggressive, slightly irritating, and her character development makes absolutely no sense. She does, however, maintain an adorable personality throughout the rest of the show, but she never goes back to her original persona.

The rest of the show was somewhat interesting. I liked Oto’s passion for creating music, and Soramame’s backstory with her mother was utterly heartbreaking, but that’s it. Nothing else about the show was redeemable, save for the ending.

The writer attempted to introduce artificial, inflated drama by introducing a con artist. She worms her way into Oto’s head, then asks for money. Oto quickly realises that she’s conning him, but she has no friends and asks to be his. Knowing Oto’s character, he says yes, obviously.

Seira (the con artist) isn’t seen for a little while after this episode, but when she does show up, Soramame helps Oto recruit her for his two-piece band as the singer, and Seira almost immediately falls in love with Soramame.

There was absolutely no need to introduce a lesbian character in this story, and she was only used as a hollow plot filler to add additional, inflated drama to a story that did not need it. This love triangle eventually devolved into a love square for about two episodes.

Kitagawa also added the annoyingly overused tropes of missed timing, mistaken feelings, and a time jump.

The last episode was probably the only good episode besides the pilot. The first half was slow moving, and quite bland, but the last fifteen minutes were sweet and quite enjoyable.


Now, I’m going to go through a brief overview of how I would have fixed the story in this show.

Instead of having Soramame get over her first love in a period of literally one episode, I would have had the entire show centered on the grief of Soramame’s lost love and her newfound admiration of Oto. She would have fought through the grief she was feeling by using Oto as a shoulder to cry on.

Eventually, she’d realise that he was always there for her, and that he’d always been there to listen. I would have made it obvious from the start that she was a fasion designer and, lastly, I would have completely dropped Seira’s character from the show. Other than that, the rest of the plot with Oto’s career, Soramame’s mother abandoning her, and Soramame’s boss stealing her work, causing her to leave and reach out to her mother is perfect. The majority of the finale is also good as is.

All in all, the acting was fantastic, the soundtrack was great; I am a huge yorushika fan, so that was a nice surprise, and the production quality was phenomenal.

I do not recommend watching this show unless you’re interested in watching for the acting and some minor story beats.

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Not my favourite but pretty good

I enjoyed the series but I would say definitely not my favourite. I had stopped at ep 14 and continued watching only after the new episodes till ep 40 were released.

I like the story but I honestly didn’t exactly feel too invested in it. ZLS and WAY’s chemistry was really cute. My heart broke for them a couple of times.

In my own biasness I will admit the whole “hurting you to protect you without communicating it” really bothers me as much as I understand it was out of love.

I generally watch anything ZLS acts in because I adore how good an actress she actually is. But this wasn’t my favourite work of hers. She looks absolutely stunning in the different outfits. And I love how cute Water Beast Ah Yin is. ? Yes alot of people complain about her cutesy voice but seeiously it didn’t bother me bc she is supposed to be cute. I rather listen to her than someone else dubbing her voice.

Watch it if you have time. But personally it wasn’t one that I will want to rewatch right after finishing.

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cute historical romance

Wonderland of Love (2023) - 8,5 -cdrama

historical romance wuxia cdrama. With average story, but cute romance.

This drama got few very good characters. Main and some minor characters got quite good or unique personalities. At other hand at least for me this drama lacks in villain characters development. Almost all villains was one dimensional or at best two dimensional and overall lacklustre.

Romance part was playing big role here. I would even say its more like main story is that romance and fight for throne or wars between armies are just backround.

plot - Emperor is dead, killed by traitorous general together with all his direct successors. New traitorous emperor aint supported by all and :warlords: rise to fight for throne. ML is frontline border general without big ambitions, sadly for him he is former emperor grandson and as such got duty to quell rebellion. At his crusade he meets FL which is strategist lieutenant of Cu army. Cu army is one of strongest :warlord: armies competing for throne. ML and FL play cat and mouse mind games to compete, but slowly their clashes spark a fire between them.

genre - wuxia, romance

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visually stunning filler

[Before we begin I have to shout out that intro. Never skipped and even replayed it sometimes. The visuals and vibes go too hard]

I'll be honest, I wasn't on board with the show until about ep 4, but that proposal really sped things up for me. The story has your typical problematic chaebol family but some twists here and there. The jokes weren't landing in the beginning but things became funnier as this progressed.


The acting was ok. The FL carried hard. The visual chemistry is insane, and the romantic chemistry is good too. I'm still on the fence about SK’s abilities as an actor. Either the roles he's getting aren't challenging or he simply doesn't have the range. Either way he wasn’t the best here and at times I thought he forgot how to act. KYJ has such a charming face. The directors knew what they were doing casting her in this. Seok Hoon, Madam Ju, and Seok Min’s actors were good. Everyone else was just ok.

This was better than I thought it was gonna be but nothing to rave home about. I actually found myself looking forward to the ep drops, tho this had more to do with the fan service and visual aspect. I had to be honest with myself--this was a filler show. Visually pleasing but filler nonetheless. Everything else was what you'd expect from a fantasy drama with crazy rich people in the mix. I was never really invested in the overarching story at any point. We also got the predictable happy ending which is good for general kdrama viewers but bad if you expected more plot execution.

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Dropping it because the subs are missing

PS. My ratings here are random since I couldn't post a review without them.

I read the comments and seeing two types of ppl : those who struggle finishing eventho it started off well and those who, as well as I, want to make their own opinion on it but can't because of how weird the subs are on streaming sites to the point I'm thinking abt dropping the series since the subtitles are weird asf and incoherent... Characters all had their names written in chinese when here you could clearly tell their names are supposed to be korean ? to be more precise about the problem.
Having the subs being off makes the series understanding hard for us since nothing is coherent and relevant ?. This just destroyed the ratings of the series and even its chance to be well-known

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One of its kind, Unbelievable!

In my part one review I said it was the most unique kdrama but now I believe this is one of the most deepest tv shows to ever exist. I have never seen such emotions displayed with such good acting and story.
This show makes you cry, happy, and most importantly makes you grateful for life. I love every interaction of Death character as her each word is extremely meaningful.
This show reminds so much of rezero anime and it is really refreshing to see such ideas getting life. Even though all of this was fictional don't take any of its moment as a simple TV scene it means lot more.
hats off to complete cast and the director. this is must watch ?

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