Reviews

Well-meaning but not always well-executed

As someone who adored the film adaptation and has gone back to it again and again and again, this was pretty darn faithful, showing how one meaningful connection can expand someone's world and how all you really need is one person to see and understand you, just one.

I liked how this Taichi showed more of an interest in Kohei right off the bat, which led to some lovely, thoughtful moments. And Kohei was more forward with his feelings in his own way. However, over time, I did begin to feel like the drama was dragging its feet. By making Taichi more attached to Koehi but also more dense, there was this constant circling around his feelings. And while I, of course, was happy to see them explore hearing loss and the different perspectives and struggles of people who are deaf/hard of hearing, I think it took away valuable time that could have been spent with Taichi and Kohei. While they focused on Taichi's passion for making a better world/helping others, Kohei ended up taking a backseat. Some later episodes had barely any scenes of Taichi and Kohei together, let alone from Kohei's point of view.

The ending also didn't quite sit right. While it did its job and was sweet, it felt rushed and lacking.

I think this drama wanted to be bigger than it was and lost itself a bit.

I wasn't disappointed, per se; I just think they could have done more.

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Stellar crime thiller! (he didn't do anything wrong)

Vigilante is a fast paced crime thriller, that is perfect for a fast binge. It's not the most fleshed out drama out there, we don't really get to know any of the characters backstories or why they do the things they do. I really liked the main protagonist/antagonist (actually he was 100% right in everything imo). It was super refreshing to see Nam joohyuk in this type of role. I'm so used to him just playing the "pretty boy next door". Actually acting was great all-around.

The drama do lack any type of realism when it comes to injuries, logic etc etc, like why can everyone in this show fight? Why can that guy lift a car? why did the report barely react to the crazy stuff happening right in-front of her eyes? This did bother me a bit, but honestly it wasn't a huge deal for me, since k-dramas do tend to go out of the realm of reality pretty often. Also the show didn't really have a emotional punch to it. I did really like the ending of the drama, I would actually be fine if that was it you know? (don't wanna spoil)

It's a drama worth-while if you like these types of shows! A solid 8/10 from me.

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Realistic drama about friendship and love!

As someone who prefers realistic drama, this drama certainly meet my expectations and I have to say that it is by far one of the best drama about friendship and love I have watched in a long time! I wish I chanced upon this drama earlier when it was released 5 years ago...

The drama centers around 5 high schoolmates who later became close friends when they joined the school's radio club.

For once, I like that both female and male leads are able to pursue their passion for music, and not go the conventional career paths of becoming lawyers, doctors. engineers etc.

The friendship between the female lead, her friend and cousin are admirable and built up over the years, they are what friends should be which reminds me of my close friends as well, just being there for one another, and giving life advice when you need it.

The plot is pretty realistic. It is centered in the early 2000s with many throwback to the pop and rock music of that time, that was my favourite era and seeing the Beyond, Leslie Cheung, Jay Chou, and Linkin Park posters already got me curious to explore this drama more!

For me, the ML and FL stories already kept me hooked throughout the series that I did not really care much about the supporting characters so I will just share more on the leads' story.

ML and FL started off as purely frenemies who got on each other's nerves all the time although they have the same interest in music and listened to the same type of music. FL admired the SML since junior high but always miss the opportunity or did not have the courage to confess her feelings until graduation day when she finally slot in the love letter between the SML's book. SML has always liked FL but did not have the courage to confess as well and ML is always one step ahead of him to the FL. I especially like the scenes whereby the FL had to choose between watching the concert with the ML or watching the SML's piano performance as that was the defining moment that the FL realised that after hanging out with the ML more and experiencing his thoughtfulness, she already slowly and unknowingly fell for him. On the other hand, the ML's love for the FL was a slow burn as he started finding her adorable and interesting, complimenting his cold and blunt character. He was very mature as he knew the FL does not like him the romantic way yet and worse, like his best friend, but was still always there for her and never once forcing things between them. It was until the night they spent together at the beach and when the FL returned the kiss, then the ML realised that the FL must have felt something that she returned the kiss, and he had to confess his feelings. Moving forward to their college years, I respect how the FL encouraged the ML to pursue his education in US despite knowing that it will be a long-distance relationship, and it may not work out, yet she did not want to be an obstacle to the ML's passion and dream. Although, the FL chose to break up with the ML and encouraged the ML to return to the US. Despite the sadness, I felt that this separation was necessary for them to realise that both of them still love each other when they reunited back in their hometown years later as working adults.

The journey for them to love, separate and get back together was beautiful and realistic and portrays the true meaning of love, no matter the distance and time apart, will still find their way back to one another!

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A short drama that packs a lot of emotions, nuance, and representation.

There's a part in here that truly represents the whole essence of the show. It's when Taichi would intuitively repeat long conversations to Kohei. It conveyed the kindness that someone like Kohei needed in a world where he has grown tired of being pitied. Taichi taught him to ask if he didn't hear anything because it's not his fault to have hearing loss. It made Kohei happy, and it's the reassurance he needed to feel that he belongs in his world. 

Kohei, who's quiet and reserved, found himself trapped in a bubble he created. And Taichi, who's naturally and flamboyantly loud, came into his life to burst that bubble - a college boy whose strides resemble his bubbly personality with a heart as big as his baggy pants. Isolated and withdrawn from the world he used to be a part of, Kohei finds solace in Taichi's reassurance. Their relationship progresses so naturally, letting us feel the emotions seep through our body and be fully immersed in their happiness, confusion, frustration, and all the fluttering feelings that come with growing up as young adults.

Kohei and Taichi aren't so good at communicating feelings, especially the latter. Things may not be said in words, and feelings can be lost in miscommunication, which has been the running theme in a lot of Japanese dramas. But in this case, it was buildup and hinted, seemingly wants us to be prepared for the incoming angst. It didn't feel like it appear out of the blue. The angst was given enough momentum to hit you directly right in the feels. Their ability to express emotions through nuance and visual actions is profound and an entrancing sight to watch. And the amorous and yearning glances say so much more than words.

I Hear the Sunspots is a coming of age story that explores the challenges of growing up with disability and as young adults. It's a representation for the hard of hearing people that's not just a mere inspiration porn for the able bodied. It has a commendable presentation of unique perspectives through various likeable and polarizing characters for us to better understand the unfamiliar world. They took the time to let these young adults figure life out, fully understand themselves, and grow as individuals as they navigate their relationship. This short drama sticks to its core and to what it's truly all about.

Overall, the show is well acted by the leads and side characters, and the music choices are so well incorporated. I'd gladly say it's a show crafted with a lot of compassion - a nice blend of heartwarming and heartwrenching moments. The story has a clear romance hints in the 1st half but it is more expressly implied than obvious in the 2nd half and that will really depend on how you see it fit for your own liking. It places more of an emphasis on sentiments, emotional connections and character development. It's not perfect but it's still a whole package well delivered that focuses on the serious topic of disability representation.

Motoki and Tora brought Kohei and Taichi to life. I feel them when they are hurt and confused, I feel their smiles and happiness through the screen. And whenever they show even the slightest hint of affection towards each other, I was moved and convinced. It's their natural chemistry that brought this all together.

This particular line really stuck with me while following the show: "It's harder to deal with people not understanding than not hearing." - Sugihara Kohei

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Really liked this even with all the cuts

I enjoyed this drama a lot and found that only the last episode was a real problem for me with the editing. I get that they made a lot of cuts all the way through this but I still didn't find it that hard to watch. All the actors did really great in this and they were such a joy to watch. Have to point out that Zhang Ling He was amazing as this character and I just really love watching and supporting dramas he does.

Two other characters I really loved in this was Mu Zhanting and Yin Ya. Mu Zhanting was hilarious in most of his scenes I couldn't stop laughing at him, and Yin Ya was adorable and proved he was a loyal friend in the end. Loved the chemistry between Zhang Ling He and Jing Tian and loved their scenes together. I don't think this drama should just be judged on the editing when the actors did an incredible job. I say give it a watch and see if you like it or not everyone has their own opinions.

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Happy Ending but Heartbreaking!

This drama had its ups and downs, but if you watch and get frustrated, it's okay. Remember, life is not perfect, and with the FL, yes, it was frustrating with her constantly breaking up, etc which, I understood her position because after a person gets wronged, hurt, or betrayed, it's hard to trust and believe in another, and oftentimes, you break up before you become a willing victim. It's a funny thing when it comes to love. Some know how to accept it, while others like in the FL case questions the validity and the genuineness of that love, oftentimes having self doubt, and confidence in herself, wondering if she deserved to be loved. I can't say enough about my favorite actor and ML, Zhang Han. He was awesome in all aspects. I'm still crying, and I've completed the drama. The other casts were great as well. To be honest, I'm not sure why, I've read all these negative reviews. When watching a drama such as this and you don't feel yourself in the drama as part of the cast, then you do not have that intellectual and emotional connection. I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I honestly want to tell viewers, watch it for yourself. Like I stated earlier, I was frustrated with the FL a lot of the times, but to me, that's when that actor has done his/ her part so well that the audience becomes pissed off. The OST with the collaboration with Zhang Han & 庆庆, Le Hu, Shuang Sheng, Yisa, and others throughout the scenes including the opening and ending songs will leave you crying your eyes out. Not that I've completed this drama, but I am still very emotional. Yes, it's a happy ending but still somewhat heartbreaking because it seems so real. So thank you, Zhang Han. You really did a number on me. Mr. Han, please ignore the negative comments and grow from them, but believe me, you've done an amazing job as the executive producer. Please take a bow! Only those with the intellectual and emotional connection will get this drama. Thank you. SO MY ADVICE TO THE AUDIENCE, PLEASE WATCH FOR YOURSELF! Please do not allow another person's opinion to deter you from watching this drama.

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Its Goofy and painfully mediocre right now.

It’s kinda goofy, ohms giving 75 percent or lesser of his abilities most of the time, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since he’s just tends to be inherently good.
Lengs acting chops are yet to be seen one episode is not enough for me to judge.
The script is a bit awkward and strangely paced.
I hate and I mean HATE the colour grading and general lighting ,
It looks so dull and flat and even sort of hazy at times which I don’t think matches the tone of the show they’ve gone for and detracts from the already Unfortunately mediocre comedy.
I think they were going for some sort of gritty realism vibes( visually) but they have missed It feels staged and lacks clarity in artistic vision if there was any.

I am not a fan of the fact that ohms character follows leng around and seems to start to like (I don’t mean in a romantic way necessarily) him already. I feel like it would have been stronger if he was grappling with the act he was about to commit a bit more since I feel like that would’ve added interesting depth to his character from the beginning. But they might remedy that later (they better)

I see a lot of comments saying the rating is unnaturally low and though I agree that the Ohm cannon shippers are out of hand these days I don’t think the rating is that far off since I would give it a 7.6 at the moment and I usually give shows two episodes to hook me so I will watch the second one but if its like this one I don’t think I’ll be watching it till its done and there’s indications that it improved in a worthwhile way. Which would be sad since I really enjoy watching Ohm on screen

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TongrakMahasumut...

First i'd like to say the actresses all did a great job especially little Meena but my patience wore thin with the GL part of this story; The assistant, Mook came off as whiny and annoying and Vie annoyed me to with not telling her how she felt instead of bossing her around in disguise for wanting her around. I kept wanting to go back to the boys and in the end anyways nothing really happened with the girls? Idk I guess the Special that I have yet to see will show something but for how long the finale was, something should've happened.

Anyways onto my babies...

Tongrak poor baby, I wanted to hug him and hold him and tell him everything would be alright up till the finale; where I wanted to knock his head a little. Peat did such a great job with the sassiness of the character, which is it to be expected he is our Sky after all. Also really felt the pain and panic within Tongrak as well. He allowed me to relate with the character with his feelings of dread, of not wanting to be hurt, of just wanting to be loved and I know people aren't a fan of Peat's crying but it really tugged at my heart strings. The drama with his Disney villain dad ended a little too quickly in my opinion, I wanted to dig in more to what happened with the uncle and also the drama with the annoying jealous cousin I could've done without; Though I did enjoy that scene in the dressing room.

Mahasumut... as their names together suggests, I in fact did and do love him and not just because Fort played him, though I can't think of anyone more perfect for the role. His persistent, goofy and loving nature, I loved it all. I do wish we dug more into his trauma like a flashback or something like we did for Tongrak but even still i related heavy with him and his need to prove himself that he could make something of himself, especially at such a young age. As Fort does, he tore at my heart with his tears once again so my heart was feeling heavy for Mut at parts and I loved it. Also his relationship with Meena made me wish we'd seen more scenes with her and Tongrak doing family stuff.

TongrakMahasumut...the chemistry...had me squealing like a little school girl. ( I became Meena whenever they were together xD) As to be expected with FortPeat though, they never disappoint me with their chemistry on and off camera. In the intimacy aspect, they really turned up their game; had me blushing so bad from their scenes that I felt like I was totally interrupting something or shouldn't have been watching.

Rewatchability? Overall, despite the lackluster side GL story and annoying subplot with the cousin; I'd rewatch it, mainly for FortPeat.

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Very fun show

The story is about five girls with very different personalities and lives, but all sharing the name Ploy, being the same age and going to the same high school. Despite being good friends in school, things don't go as smoothly as they hoped they would afterwards, especially with their respective crushes. Fifteen years later one of the girls realizes that the Ploys' phone numbers were switched around in their yearbook, leading to multiple misunderstandings and heartbreaks.
The main theme of this series is about being able to forgive (both others and ourselves) despite the mistakes, but most importantly about healing after your heart broke, about looking back to make sure that there are as few regrets as possible, and about moving forward without letting past wounds slow down the pace.

The story is not flawless - in fact there were multiple times when I felt like certain events or behaviors from the characters were just a little too convenient for the plot, or a little too easy to achieve. I also had the feeling that some of the scenes were included less for the sake of the plot and more for the sake of "wouldn't it be awesome if this happened?" and such. The reason why I still rated this pretty high is that, despite this, I still had a lot of fun watching! The friend groups in this series really feel like friends, the emotional moments were delivered very well and I was invested in most of the story.

The casting was just impeccable. I decided to give this show a chance because Earth was in it, but I really feel like everyone did an amazing job. Most of the couples felt like true couples, which is one of the most important things for romance, but the parents, the friends and all the support roles were impeccable as well.

Pretty Ploy and Mek were by far my favorite couple of the entire series. At the very beginning I was convinced that I would end up hating Pretty Ploy, but instead she became my favorite out of all the Ploys. It's not easy to portray someone as concerned with beauty and dating as Pretty Ploy and make her so likeable, so props to Punpun for the great performance! As for Jimmy, I already saw his acting in other series and I can confirm that he can handle about any role; he was believable as the nerdy high-school boy, and he was still completely believable as a successful businessman, all without ever looking like he was interpreting two different people. These two also proved that you don't need kisses to prove great chemistry, and you don't need an elaborate plot to make a love story more compelling.

Prof Ploy and Khram were very sweet together, but not too convincing to me. I believe that Prof Ploy was one of the hardest Ploys to portray well, but Jamie was able to show a sweet and kind character while blending it with the subtlety and the cleverness that make her character so fascinating. I wasn't completely sold on her role as the chairwoman, but I'm not sure if this was something expected since Prof Ploy isn't supposed to be experienced. Despite his screen time, Mond didn't get too many chances to show off his acting, but I'm placing the blame on the overly elaborate plot this couple got. I don't believe they needed things to get so complicated, really.

Punk Ploy and Tawan were the couple I enjoyed the least, which is a shame since I was sort of looking forward to see them, but I also don't believe this was because my expectations were too high. Their plot just didn't convince me overall: it got overly elaborate very quickly and at some point I realized I was merely waiting for it to finish once for all. While Film was able to show different sides of her character, Joong wasn't as lucky, which was truly a pity. Last but not least, since their story wasn't convincing, I never really felt like their couple was as convincing as the others.

Plain Ploy and Pimai were great, but also penalized by a plot that forced me to suspend my disbelief more than I like to. There's only a handful of questions about the plot that I can ignore before I start to feel like the story was not polished enough, and this was one of those times. Despite this, both Aye and Toy did a great job with what they had and their acting was impeccable from start to finish. Props to Toy in particular for being able to act as both Pimai and his twin brother Plaimas, switching between the two so perfectly that I kept forgetting they were the same actor. This love story was also the most touching despite everything.

Prez Ploy and Thap were the frame for the entire series - the couple that started it all and the couple that was able to heal their scars and solve all the unfinished business in the end. I found this choice very satisfying, although some choices for their share of the plot felt a little too good to be true for my taste. I already saw both Earth and Namtan in other projects before and I already knew that they were great actors, but I feel like their casting for these role surprised me even more about their talent. They portrayed characters that felt human, making them the most real out of all the couples. I also wasn't expecting them to make such a romantic couple, and I mean it in the best way possible.

The production might not be everyone's cup of tea since it's full of time jumps between the main characters' high school days and present days. I didn't have any issues with it and was able to follow the story without trouble, but it might not be the same for everyone. The audio on YouTube sounded pretty bad, but I wasn't overly bothered by that either. One good plus is that there were absolutely no product placements getting in the way of the story here - something I'm not used to see from GMMTV shows.

This is one of those stories that deserve a chance, at least for one to make an opinion for themselves about it. If you enjoy love stories that involve lots of misunderstandings (done well) and plot twists, this might be for you.

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Not Good Enough

Japanese Drama '' Kahogona Wakadanna-sama no Amayakashi Kon '' is a romantic melodrama.

The short length of the drama means that the story moves too fast. Thus, the love story had a messy pace and used some cheesy cliches to cover that up.

On the bright side, there were some cute moments between the couple, and the main character's journey to make her culinary dreams come true was interesting and it would have been nice if they had focused more on that part.

Finally, the performances from everyone in the cast were enjoyable.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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Political plots aren’t my thing,
It had great acting, almost like a sequel to Mr sunshine and the continuation of future problems

really great acting, heavy plot, in ways, knowing a bit here and there of korean history, their past that led them here, and the future which comes in movies like Best Friend, things make sense
they wanted to change but it wasn't the right time and as samsik said, it was like the pebble that effected the future

really tho actingwise they deserve daesangs and many awards

once power and scheming happens, it became a man’s world, and greed, double crossing, changing sides, scheming, they did have two interesting female characters, in a pool of 20000 men

1960s tho, this was also pre “communist” labeling so I guess, no matter who was “good” and “bad”, things continuing escalating

It has A+++++ lvl acting? so I don’t regret watching and staying , I have no idea what was happening, worse than money game and their financial money talk

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