Reviews

somewhat got just ok

story semi complete, i think this is one of does series that has run into a problem in the middle of production cos the last 2 episode fill lke it was rush compare previous episode where it focus more on the daily interaction of the on the office.
i say i was rush because the ending is just ok becaue they just compact many plot on a single episode some character just pot and disappear like the main villain in the 2nd half and the childhood friend and some key scene is not present like the meeting of the ML and his mother lastly the villain didn't suffer of there action they even made an appearance in the hospital to taunt the lead and then we hear nothing of them untill the end.

on the side of the side character are just there of the comedic act .or just patch in the story i love the funny one but not his story he treated like a disposable by his partner and he still persue and came back to here just because she what his and ask him to beg her??? i saw like what i was ok on there situation where they are just colleague.

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All Bark and No Bite

For all the hype this show had it just isn't really hitting that hard. I don't really care much about the intro being made with AI and all that stuff but it's the editing and characters of the drama that is somewhat of a letdown.

I wanted to see an ML who is grey, clever and ready to go scorched earth after all the pain he went through but all I see is a zero self respect love struck idiot who is still naive and weak when it comes to planning and plotting plus keeps getting played again and again. One tear from FL and in a second he loses his manhood and anger only to give in to her words, it's quite pathetic to watch. One of the most pathetic male lead characters I have ever seen. I really hoped they will make a man out of ML by the end but he was the same old pussy.

The show really did ruin FL's character too, they wanted to show her all tragic and some one who is mission focused but only ended up showing her as a selfish and extremely toxic woman. Frankly by the end you will be guessing did she even love ml or only wanted a zero self respect doormat of a man who keeps licking her shoes no matter how many times she ruins his life or worse she treats him.

This is one of the dramas where I cared more for the side characters than the main leads. I loved Li Boze , Qingyu, Zi Hong characters and really rooted for them. Frankly even the antagonists were more interesting to watch than the leads.

The story is decent and too some extent keeps you engaged but it's the character arcs that are a mess overall. The acting is decent by everyone nothing too great but not too bad. The cinematography is average and VFX is simply bad for a big budget drama it was promoted as.

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A well made Kamen Rider show that becomes an historical artifact

Quite a good series, to be honest, I liked it.

The suit design deviate from the Heisei series, they are much more slick and modern looking, it fits perfectly with the business-AI theme.

The characters were interesting and felt vey alive and real.

I like the plot, I love when Kamen Rider has terrorist organizations and politicking. Here we see yet again how companies can be the bad guys in Kamen Rider, and how the forces of capital can engeneer war and suffering. But in the end, they do resort to a "human malice" as the ultimate antagonist. This malice makes AI turn to violence, posing technology as neutral and is able to be used both for good and bad depending on human action. That is one of the core themes of Kamen Rider, that is here dealt with in the context of AI.

And regarding AI, despite this series beign made in 2019, it couldn't be made today. As a reviewer pointed out, this takes the 20th century classic sci-fi approach to AI, with robot coming from the czech robotnik, "forced worker". They are basically an oppressed class that do the dirty work for humans but are actually capable of thought and self-awareness (the singularity). That's quite different from our modern perception of AI isn't it? An episode where a manga artist has to learn to appriacete his AI assistant's work isn't writable today, when the fact that mangaka Inio Asano has expressed extremely pro-AI views has lost him a lot of fans. Really, this is a show for a bygone era, perphaps at the cusp of the shift in public perception of AI. Really, the fact that COVID impacted this show like it did only goes to show the historical moment in which it was made, when technological advancements are so fast that a TV series from only 7 years ago is now completely disconnected and out of touch from the reality of the impact of technology on society. This is almost and archeological artifact to be honest.

Anyways, very good stuff, reccomended. As far as Kamen Rider show go, this is probably A tier or something, even if towards the end it is very rushed (when i started watching episode 42 i thought I had skipped ahead by like 3 episodes, I guess that it's the showrunners that skipped ahead...).

Also the tournament arc was fun, even if unexcpected. And the main charchter has an Ai girlfriend which is his secretary, which is beyond funny. And the belt jingles were also fun.

"WHEN THE FIVE HORNS COLLIDE, THE GOLDEN SOLDIER THOUSER IS BORN!!! 🗣️🗣️"

But the episodes became kinda samey towards the third fourth of the show. Also we finally have a two female Kamen Riders (and one of them is a secondary rider)!!! But, as if by equivalent exchange, we don't have enough homoeroticism.

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Biggest disappointment of 2026

It's really disappointing when high budget drama fails to fill the expectations.After watching upto episodes 7,I decided to drop it,Biggest disappointment.The editing feels like a sequence of short-form social media clips stitched together.The VFX looks too childish.They must have used all their budget on makeup and clothes.
Instead of letting emotional moments build naturally, scenes cut abruptly from intense confrontations to sudden tonal shifts (thriller to comedy to romance), breaking immersion.
I am frustrated with the production’s lighting and color grading. Rather than having the rich, moody aesthetic typical of Republican-era pieces, the sets look overly bright, sterile, or flat-washed.
Intrusive Sound Design: The background music (BGM) is overly loud, mis-timed, or jarring, pulling focus away from the actors performances.Overall the drama is 5.5/10 for me.They are only depending on intimate kiss scenes,other part of drama is a huge failure.

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i fucking love this drama

i don't really write official reviews for dramas unless i absolutely hate them, but oh my days i loved this so much.

the cinematography, the colour grading, the fight choreography, the story, the acting, the cgi, the whole visual identity... just ughhhhh. everything came together so beautifully. every frame felt so deliberate, almost painterly at times, and the action scenes were actually creative instead of just people flying around for the sake of it. idk why this wasn't a huge ass hit because i genuinely, genuinely loved it.

this HAS to be ju jingyi's best role. she's improved so much since Novoland and i don't even think it's close. Lu Wuyi is such a lonely character, and somehow ju jingyi's usually blank, restrained eyes actually became one of the character's biggest strengths instead of a weakness. you can literally FEEL the isolation radiating off her. and those last few episodes bro i was holding it together SO well until she completely broke down over Ji Ling. ughghibkfdnhhhjdfksbnlkdfjvbjnsdksnfabjndfiognidsnviabdf. i actually cried!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

tian jiarui's Ji Ling was such an enigma for the longest time. i genuinely couldn't predict what he was going to do next, and i couldn't figure out where his loyalties or intentions actually lay. that's honestly such a rare experience in cdramas because most of them practically spoon-feed you every motivation and plot twist before they even happen. with this, i actually had to pay attention and think for myself. i LOVE plots that trust the audience enough to put the pieces together instead of explaining everything five times.

chen duling REALLY suits these mature 姐姐 roles. Wu Wangyan had such a calming, grounding presence that every time she appeared on screen, my eyes were immediately drawn to her. she's effortlessly charismatic without ever trying too hard, and she can really hold her own as a lead. she is such an amazing actress ughhh i love her so much.

zeng shunxi lowkey impressed me with Wu Shiguang because OMG he portrayed all of Wu Shiguang's conflicting emotions so well. he never made the character feel one-note, and you could genuinely see the constant push and pull between love, guilt, and grief.

the story itself was wonderfully complex, and i found it so refreshing not being spoon-fed every piece of information or every plot point. it trusted its audience, and that's something i wish more dramas would do. it never felt confusing for the sake of being confusing either!! it just let the mystery unfold naturally, and i was hooked the entire time trying to piece everything together.

i also loved how committed the drama was to its own visual style. it didn't just look pretty for the sake of it because the colour palette, lighting, costumes, and cgi all worked together to create this really distinctive atmosphere that made it stand out from every other xianxia/wuxia i've watched recently.

i think this director did a bloody good job. put him in a cage with zeng qing jie, fei zhenxiang, and guo feng, and don't let any of them out until they've made another ten dramas together.

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A feel good youth sports romance drama

I really liked the premise of the story and I was curious about the main leads' acting so I dived into this impulsively and I'm happy to report this was not bad even though I typically don't enjoy youth dramas.

Lets start with the positives:
1. The acting- I really liked the acting of the cast members. Sure it didn't stary too far from the typical cdrama style comical expressions but it had more depth and emotion than usual
2. The chemistry- Not only the main leads, the little savage tribe also had good chemistry and I would believe it if they become real friends outside this drama. The main leads also had good slow burn chemistry and it was like I was third wheeling whenever I saw them together on screen
3. Football scenes & lingo- I liked that they discussed tactical theories and strategy and those football match scenes looked believable (tho I don't know a thing about football).
4. The dialogue- Though I had a few issues with the plot, I liked the dialogues in the script. It wasn't that cringey and sounded natural
5. The overall message and ending- I think this series had one of the most well written endings I've seen in a cdrama. I liked how football was used as a metaphor for resilience, unity and perseverance. I also liked how they didn't end it with the usual wedding scene but instead gave a hopeful and positive vibe.

Now let's move onto the negatives:
1. The light hearted plot- While this was marketed as a healing drama, it still had very dark and serious concepts so I expected some sort of emotional weight but it never came. Personally, maybe because of the pacing or how they rewrote the original novel for this drama, I couldn't feel the emotional angst I was supposed to feel. Then I read the scenes which were altered from the original novel and I understood why I felt that way because the plot points in the original novel were more darker, serious and contemplative.
2. The main focus kept getting lost- I feel like if you're going to rewrite the novel, then the plot points have to be streamlined better. There were too many side plots and the main focus which was supposed to the team and football, kept getting lost and overshadowed. This is another reason why some of the serious side plots didn't get the enough care and attention needed
3. The unnecessary side characters- I have a feeling that Yu Bo and Ju Li had a much more significant role in the novel. But in the drama, they just felt surface level and I couldn't connect to them at all. Their endings also felt shallow and rushed which made me feel like they got the lazy writing treatment.

Overall, if you're into youth dramas then you might love this more than me. It was not bad but not great either so it felt alright to me.

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MY COMFORT AND HEALING DRAMA!!! THE BEST MODERN CDRAMA OF THE YEAR 2026!

Finally completed 🙌 I already watched it all😭 Gonna miss all the casts especially the football team boysss!!! Road To Success is such an amazing drama and best drama of the year 2026!!! The casts, story, acting, production and everything is perfect... They really adopted all the genres in this drama!!! All the casts delivered a truly amazing performance, it's so realistic and natural that you can feel their emotions and pain!!! The bond of football team and their Ms. Lin and Coach Wang is truly admirable, they healed and help each other.
ROAD TO SUCCESS will forever hold a special place in my heart! Thank you to all casts, staff, director, script writer, etc. for producing this amazing drama!!! I LOVE YOU ALL🙌🤍🤍🤍 MY FAMILY! MY WORLD CUP!!! 🙌 MY COMFORT AND HEALING DRAMA🤍 THE BEST MODERN CDRAMA OF THE YEAR 2026!!!

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10/10 – One of the best manhwa adaptations I've ever watched!

I read the manhwa quite a while ago, and I completely fell in love with it. It became one of my favorites, so I was both excited and a little nervous when I heard it was getting a drama adaptation.
After finally watching it, I can honestly say it exceeded my expectations. The drama stayed true to the heart of the manhwa while bringing the story to life in such a beautiful way. The characters felt exactly as I imagined them, and the emotions were portrayed perfectly.
The acting was outstanding, and the chemistry between the leads was incredible. Every important scene was handled with care, making me feel the same emotions I experienced while reading the manhwa. The cinematography, soundtrack, and overall production quality were all excellent.

This is exactly the kind of adaptation every manhwa fan hopes for. It stayed true to the original while creating a beautiful experience of its own. I enjoyed every single episode and would recommend it to everyone.

A well-deserved 10/10. Thank you to the entire cast and production team for bringing this amazing story to life. I will definitely watch it again! ❤️

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MUST WATCH!!

didn't have high expectations cuz I don't really watch recent dramas BUT OH LORD IT WAS AMAZING. I found it similar to taxi driver and uncanny counter. I loved the theme of creating a team to teach bad students a lesson. THE QUOTES HIT SO HARDDD. It made me cry and smile at the same time. it hit so deep that my heart started aching for the poor students and teachers who went through bad stuff. Episode 2 was the best. it was unserious but real at the same time. The casting was PERFECT for the characters. they all blended in so good. I hope I can find another drama liek this

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