Reviews

A Thousand Days Promise (2011) - okay, this drama hurts to much, and I cried a lot. I have seen the trailer for this one in ABS-CBN (*our local television network) with tagalog dubbed and I was curious and got interested. It's not just tears that fall down on my cheeks, but also my snot and all, gross but I was so hurt. It's too heartbreaking, its a sad drama. This drama is really melodrama at it’s highest and the cast simply shows that this drama is one of a kind. The lines in the drama are really well written and executed that I felt it. Would not rewatch for sure, I don't want to hurt myself again.

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Protect The Boss (2011) - Choi Kang-hee and Ji Sung are both good in their craft, which I really adore as a viewer. This drama is categorized as romantic comedy, and it did makes use of the comedic style evidently which for me as watcher makes me question myself if I should believe it or not. Eventually both main leads and even the other parties involve in the love line are good. There are a lot of funny moments in the drama and the bromance part is really well executed. Though this drama has that typical Korean topic rich man falls in love with a poor girl, I like the fact that they did insist so much on the riches and gets serious in the the end (*just like what happened in Secret Garden). Though most likely I found myself laughing throughout this drama, there is that particular feeling of something missing that I cannot pinpoint and that is why I feel unsatisfied with it.

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love and break up story which should be posible just in asia

One Spring Night (2019) -8,5/10 -kdrama

I really loved soundtrack in this one. Mainly Rachael Yamagata songs. They used them very often for alike situations in drama which made it quite consistent and easy to point out.

In this drama I very often felt cultural differences and how :traditional mindset: can fuck up life even drama.

Its quite mature piece and at start I liked maturenes of ML and FL. At start ML was quite decisive and made clear-cut in relationships. At same time FL had mindset to do all right.
Sadly it didnt went like that for long. FL got irresolute and lacked braveness. ML coulnt keep his stance either. Whole drama ended in way :true love: vs whole world.

At some times characters was acting quite mature and made nice and right decisions., but there was time when you as watcher know its bad decision and I believe even main characters knew its bad decision still they went with it cause they wasnt brave enough to push it through opposition.

plot - FL is dating for long time with one guy, but their relationship lacks spark. FL ends up being asked to marry her boyfriend, but she gets cold feet and decides for some kinda :soft break up:.
Meanwhile she meets ML and starts feeling something for him. ML is pharmacist which likes FL, but he is single father and in eyes of public unsuited for relationship.
+- Its story about FL and ML getting together though FL still didnt decisively broke up with her boyfriend and they will have to brave through opposition of FL family, mainly father.

genre - romance

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So overrated, I won't recommand anyone to watch it...

So it's been since its release that I've wanted to watch it yet couldn't because I couldn't find somewhere to watch it... Now I've found a site and went on it.
What I can conclude is that it's really so overrated. Why ?
First episode, the story was somehow engaging yet very slow but since I've been watching series for a long time now I know that waiting until episode 2 can sometimes be worth it so I gave it a shot.
I was really disappointed throughout the whole watching down to the fifth one... FL could have gained my sympathy if she didn't went to sleep with a married man, her neighboor. I don't blame her for wanting to let herself live when she's getting cheated on by her 'husband', on the contrary ! But when you do exactly the same thing for what you blame your husband, I mean- She should have gone with someone single. Plus like I hate the neighbour and his wife since he was a douchebag to his wife, always looking down at her, ignoring her and even humiliating her in front of their friends and her was somehow shady, like she knew everything that was going on with Tae-Oh yet didn't want to tell Sun woo unless when it was at her advantage to leak the info. Yet nobody deserves that.

FL... I was rooting for her for like the two first episodes but then she started seriously getting on my nerves. She was doing too much back and forth moves in her 'revenge'. Like at some point it was just ridiculous. I get there are many things to think of and hard choices to make when you are planning to get divorced from your fake a** husband but when you act so dumb atp it's on another level. She decides something for her revenge's sake and then soon after pheww she forgets abt it more likely writers throw avenge ideas and then take them back and move on another overdramatic plot twist 'to keep us on edge'..

Then the son of the couple. He is so selfish... He knew everything yet let his mother suffer eventhough he could clearly see something was off. He could have discussed the things out eventho he is in middle school right ?

Tae Oh's friends straight to the bin. They badmouth him ? as good friends ofc (?) and like how can so many people know about him cheating and agree on keeping it a secret without actually trying to make Tae Oh come back to reason.

Also Tae Oh's mother is as twisted as her son. Not gonna spoil but bruh. Then another proof that Tae Oh is really messed up is that even on his relative's funeral, he went straight up kissing his mistress and all ?.

Shout out to the acting tho. The actors were very talented because I felt every single emotion they wanted to convey. I would even get very angry sometimes or frustratred lmao.

To conclude it could have been better with more elaboration. Also poor hyeon seo, I couldn't see how she ended up but Sun woo could have helped her way better. She started to do it then after I just felt like she was somehow using her for her own sake... I hope I just got it wrong because I really liked her.

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Joseon Attorney: An Immorality

Just like any other profession focused drama, they follow the notorious bait and switch tactic and this drama was no exception. We were introduced to an attorney with a tragic past and a strong motive, he worked on 2-3 cases for the first half of the drama before shifting the drama into a love chase, hypergamy, and hasty revenge. This shift wouldn't have been a problem if it hadn't been so atrocious. Somewhere around episode 9 everything took a change for the worse, including the male lead, who had been a walking disaster since the beginning. Structuring a romance around him was a big mistake; he was unbelievably creepy, intrusive, touchy, and pushy for someone who he met very briefly. His behavior came off as nothing but repulsive while going against the narrative. However, even that changed around the same shift, he began to take the moral high ground without going through any prior development. On another note on the inconsistencies, some earlier scenes had artsy edits which were interesting but none of the later episodes had something similar. It was just a one off thing to gain attraction, again, bait and switch. Overall, the drama had some intriguing elements earlier on but none of them lasted long enough.

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Your Country: The Imaginary Age

I have a thing or two against impervious plot armors that goes to the extremes and this drama was structured around that. The way these characters shrugged off serious injuries and strong poisons without a hitch was just plain comical circus performance. It made the whole series lose its credibility and left this sour taste lingering in your mouth. The characters transformation and development marred the story with crazy inconsistencies and illogical character arcs for the sake of forced progression. Everything went downhill after episode 4, it relied on these outlandish situations that made it way too hard to remain invested. It strained our ability to suspend disbelief way too often to be forgiven. One of the action soundtracks was straight up just a Eurobeat soundtrack, really odd and unfitting choice. Kinda ruined some action scenes. On the bright side, we had Jang Hyuk and some nice action scenes.

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The Return of The illegitimate Thief

Watching a drama with so much narration was kind of weird. It didn't help it case when the leads were whispering all the time with this monotone voice, almost like they were just reading lines off a script. Moreover, both of their performance was quite poor in general, I know they have the talent but not in this drama. The story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed major sections with too many skips to rush progression and conclusion but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up. Releasing another version of Iljimae within 1 year turned out to be a poor decision when they have had learned nothing from the previous one.

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A solid and satisfying drama

This drama initially caught my attention because of its list of actors. As a long-time CDrama watcher, it was a thrill for me to see Taiwan CDrama veterans like Fang Fang and Zhang Chen Guang cast alongside newer favorites like Elaine Zhong, Wu Xuanyi, Miles Wei, Gong Jun, and Gao Zhi Ting. What a smorgasbord of professionals!
Each one filled their roles well, helping to push the storyline along. While there were a few times in the 40(!) episodes when things did start to feel a bit draggy; something significant would almost always happen in the midst of these "calms" to renew my interest in the plot. So I give kudos to the scriptwriters. (It's my understanding that the author of the original novel was also part of the writing team; which probably helped.)

Overall, it had some of everything -- corporate drama, romance, humor, schoolyard friendship and angst, slice of life, etc... to appeal to a wide audience; and for me, watching it from beginning to end truly felt like partaking in a well-balanced meal. I actually teared up watching the FL get repeatedly pummeled by life. I felt the pain of her losses, as well as the stifling pressure she was under. Elaine Zhong truly gets better with every role she plays, and this series showcased her versatility. Another favorite for me here was Gao Zhi Ting. Having seen him in a couple of other shows ("A Love So Beautiful" and "Young and Beautiful"), he excels at portraying the nice guy who finishes last. So it was refreshing to see his character finally win at love! :)

This drama won't make my list of top picks -- but it was well done. If you're not sure what to watch next, consider giving this one a look.

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Iljimae: The illegitimate Thief

Aside from the obvious writing problems, the story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. Everything became tiring and dull after episode 4. The male lead was on a life mission to become more and more pathetic with each passing episode. Romance? A pale imitation. There was no spark, no cosmic alignment of hearts, just a void where chemistry should have ignited. And then, to compound matters, they slapped in a love square (pentagon?) that was infested with poorly written love interests between any and every one of them. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed to tie up loose ends but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up.

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Bride of the Century (2014) - this is one of my recommended dramas, I think it is good for beginners as well. What I like about this drama is that I don't know the female lead and I like her so much. Lee Hongki as the main male lead isn’t bad either. I think that since it revolves around romantic comedy, with fantasy genre and how they executed the romance, I was into it and I felt the chemistry of the leads. It has its own revelations that shooked my core, and I was not really expecting the twist at all, since I did not really have an expectation of the drama in the first place. I became attached as to how it would evolve. The drama turned out really well for me as a watcher, and I did rewatch this one maybe about 3 times. I’m happy with this drama.

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King Hater: The Change of Heart

This set up was just terrible— unconvincing, cartoonish, and downright ridiculous. And don't even get me started on that plot armor, it's like they thought they could get away with it. That love triangle was a mess. The guy was just plain revolting, but the real issue was how the writer tried to force us to feel sorry for him. If you're gonna have a crappy love triangle, just stick with it! Another bad habit the drama had was how often they leaned into cheesy drama tricks, killing the narrative and any potential right off the bat. One more thing to mention, I don't know how it's possible but the leads had negative chemistry. Their younger selves had a slightly better screen presence anyway.

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Blood (2015) - it really has potential, the concept of the drama being a vampire aspect as a disease is really cool and great. It was really a different take on having a vampire drama, which is quite the theme at that time. I was impressed at the first parts of the dramas, with all of it's effects and the aesthetic. Mystery wise there are questions along the way that got me curious until it just stop being interesting in the next episodes. It got dragging and the main reason of the drama seems lost. I did not really like how the drama progressed and the ending sucks.

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Blade Man/Iron Man (2014) - I would have this drama good if it was nicely written, I guess? I don't know the main reason but I think there is something wrong with this drama that I was not really engaged into it as much. Lee Dong Wook is perfect for the male lead. He delivers his role perfectly, and acting wise his really great. The female lead on the other hand, I was not really her fan in this drama but she is good, especially with crying scenes. The story between the male lead and his father is heartbreaking for me as watcher, and that what captured me best in this drama. Other than that, it was a drop. So I would not recommend this drama.

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