Reviews

a solid 9 because this drama wrapped it up nicely. No need for 16 eps and all the unnecessary drama. it has been a while since i last watched a day to day romance and im so glad i wasnt disappointed. both the mc and the fl were matured enough to not have dumb misunderstandings. no frustrations were needed. eun ho is cute asf with the kid and it made me like kids somehow lolll. love ji yoon omg such a cool independent woman. i love how straight forward she is with her feelings and her honesty, yet she is able to articulate emotions. and i loveeeeeee how in this kdrama the role is reversed: male secretary, woman boss. it was soo refreshing to see the women take the lead. dont get me started on the ost omg, love the music, especially the piano (biased thou since im already obsessed with piano)
fluffy and light romance while keeping me in hooked. definitely worth checking out and would be a nice rewatch whenever i feel stressed out

Read More

Clever mystery (s) Heart warming Friendships. Well balanced thriller . Slow paced

While not the sort of drama I normally enjoy, I ended up liking it. This reminded me of Inspector Koo, with it's surprising cleverness and keeping me guessing throughout the series.
The warm fuzzies come from friendships & parent child relationships more than any romance. The romance is so slight that I don't think the word even applies ! Disappointingly, there wasn't even one kiss between the main couple, (though they do get thier happy ending). For all that this was about solving multiple murders, it was really well balanced. The murders being done off screen for the most part. There were only a few scary bits and they were in Ep 13-15 where there are some violent scenes that are pretty hard to take-people getting beat up to a pulp & abducted. I found it impressive that there were so many suspects & that so many characters were evil, just in different ways. The pacing was slow but it keeps the murders from being oppressively overshadowing the story. The whole thing was an unexpected surprise. Ends well too.

Read More

sorta cute Bite sized drama for Cha Eun- Woo fans only

Bite sized drama with Girl that is unable to make an impression on the cute guy she sees at coffee shop every day so she gets drunk and cries on the life size cut out of Cha Eun-woo (singer in the idol group Astro ).


Spoiler
The cut out comes to life but no one else can see him. He trains her to attract her crush but they fall for each other instead. Kinda cute, though some comments are a bit off color . Ending has them meeting for real (as real people) but is really a fan dream sort of ending. so pretty much for fans only. I wouldn't watch again but it wasn't horrible).

Read More

Tame Gumiho. Bland childish female lead. Nice but unremarkable drama

I enjoyed it but I think the high rating is because I hadn't seen a decent drama in a long time so this was much better in comparison.
Be warned there are alot of product placement for Subway & ramen !I was disappointed that although the male lead did magical things like freeze time & instantly transport, it did really nothing that made me think Gumiho anymore than I would vampire. I would have like to have seen more things that were fox-like & more manifestations of his animal persona. As it was he seemed very tame. I wasn't 100% sold on the female lead. The lead's chemistry was fine, but not off the charts. This is another case where I blame casting & the writers. Basically the female lead as a bit too childish, silly, not interesting enough & they never really made me feel like there was a reason that she stood out from other females so there seemed no reason for the lead male to find her intriguing (especially after 999 years of meeting So many females !) The series did a much better job of selling the second lead's romance. I gave this less than 10 stars because it was heavy in some parts & I needed a break from it some days. For the most part the tropes were minimal & quickly resolved. I found it incredibly tedious that a rejected male confessed himself to the female lead over 3 times and just wouldn't take no for an answer. It was cringingly pitiful & not well done. Just as annoying was the way the series connected siblings of other characters in the end so that Mr. Pitiful was going to be even more pitiful because of that story line (which thankfully we never have to witness)The end was a little anticlimactic with the warm fuzzies as the male lead really longs for a family but he never says so to anyone & the romance, though happy in it resolution is rather bland, where they could have given us a proposal & segway into a wedding & hence a family that the former Gumiho longed for

Read More

Male lead shines in this modern Snow White/Maid Marion mash up of a plot

I took off points from a perfect score because of 3 things:
1) Prosecutor's obsession with female lead felt creepy.
2) Female lead promises multiple times to stay safe by staying put & she doesn't, which puts her in danger (this trope MUST die!)
3) Female Lead's best friend's storyline was jarring, 1 dimensional & detracted from main story. What she has with her guy is not a relationship & not romantic !
Now for the positive:
All those car accident, kidnapping & torture tropes; where the music sets you up to be scared? Well here you get the scary music, but those tropes don't happen. No One dies & relationships that matter are mended by the end, (AND you get your warm fuzzies!). Issues are resolved quickly, (though I am getting sick of the clueless male & female serenely navigating the world with a superior air trope). At least it wasn't heavy handed here. Leads are great in this. I wasn't really sold on thier chemistry, but the male lead sells it, so I let it slide. A very enjoyable Rom Com. The female lead was a kind of Snow White/maid Marion mash up living with her menagerie of merry men dwarves , but also get's her "prince"/hero!

Read More

Good

I think this is the first xianxia for LXY as a lead bcz this was suppose to be release in 2020. FL lead is innocent childish at first life ( not like esteryu annoying character) and after she played her dark cold character which is absolutely great.she is very beautiful in simple hairstyles 30-40 episodes.

This has first life ,second life, third life......come on.. I felt bored on some episodes this should be finished in ep 32 .this is combo of immortal samsara and love u seven times.bcz jinxu was child of demon and goddess born as divine later turned as demon king which is same as yinguan in Immortal samsara, but he didn't leave his love for a sake of his position in divine realm and they both have flower as a FL . eventhough FL has misunderstanding she loved him till last episodes. Some of them didn't watch special eps 41,42 and think this as bad ending. But it's not.
Finally not too bad but I watched this in 2x speed.. thankyou

Read More

Overbearing female, weak male. Unsatisfying lead romance

I saw Noh Min Woo in My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho & was hoping to see him as the lead in a romance, but this drama had him playing an idiot-so Wow , the guy can act ! But Euw ! His part was cringy. I never could see him as an adult & a man. He was NOT attractive- just very childish. The story was interesting but the romance just didn't work with such a strong female & such a weak male. He really was Unfortunate to fall in love with a woman who really was as selfish & self focused as she was .They should have had him overcome his trauma & come out much more mature. I kept waiting for the moment when he would slick back his hair & look less goofy & more dashing. but that never happened. They do have him showing quite ALOT of skin at times & he is ripped, but his hotness is dampened 75% by his lacking mentality ( it didn't seem like innocence) . Crude elements pop up very so often, but mostly it's highlighting how the main characters are for the most part innocent. Other characters make fun of that as it's a rarity & yet to a few it's an ideal.(both a strength & a weakness) I was disappointed to see that they had the usual drama trope of separating the couple before reuniting them. The secondary couple was really lacking in chemistry & honestly, Jung Yoon Hak was aloof & inscrutable for most of the drama. It was hard to figure out if any of his feelings were genuine. I felt a bit cheated that the secondary couple had a more romantic resolution than the main couple .

Read More

Intriguing All the Way to the End!

Legend of Zang Hai is one of those dramas that keeps you engaged with confident storytelling, good pacing and nice visuals. I didn’t emotionally bond with the characters in quite the same way as I have with some other C-dramas, but that didn’t take away from how much I thoroughly enjoyed this series. And let’s be honest - sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and appreciate the craft.

At first glance, the premise appears to follow a typical revenge arc. But it quickly reveals itself to be something far more layered: a narrative about political manoeuvring, strategy, and the complex web of interpersonal relationships that underpin Zang Hai’s world.

The writing is tight. Every character action, motivation, and consequence is anchored in a solid backstory and emotional logic. That should be a given in any script but we know it’s not always the case in C-dramaland! I feel the writers treated the material, and the characters, with the respect these deserve.

Plot-wise, the twists are clever and the reveals well-timed, keeping viewers engaged to the end. There is a nice resolution in the end.

The casting is solid. Xiao Zhan is compelling in the lead role. This is my first time seeing his work, and I found his portrayal of Zang Hai to be measured, layered, and full of subtle angst. A complex role, well executed. I did feel a subtle lack of chemistry between the ML and FL. However, given that romance is not a central pillar of the plot, it’s not a deal breaker for me.

What moved me was the relationship between Zang Hai and Master Gao Ming. It is heart-warming, well-explored and for the most part, sincere. A gentle light in the otherwise cold and difficult world of Zang Hai.

In short: this is a series worth your time. If you're after something engaging, visually polished, and grounded in good writing, Legend of Zang Hai delivers. Hope you enjoyed it too. :)

Read More

Short and Sweet! I'm developing a taste for snack-sized dramas.

"Tastefully Yours" is part of the current trend of short and sweet, heartwarming RomComs about the food industry. Yes, it's full of the basic plot beats you'll expect, but the cast is entertaining and even surprised me with some emotional moments. If you're a fan of romance dramas where enemies turn into lovers, this is a 10-episode version in a classic KDrama style. I appreciated that this drama didn't try too hard to be original, didn't stretch out the story too long, and didn't take itself too seriously. Yes, some of the jokes are corny and some of the tears are melodramatic, but by the end, I was fully invested in the fate of "Jungae".

Kang Ha Neul and Go Min Si are definitely an attractive duo, with both actors playing to their strengths. Kang Ha Neul as Han Beom U may play the classic spoiled, arrogant, and ruthless male lead, but he does it with a smiley charm that makes it hard not to find him endearing. Go Min Si as Mo Yeon Ju is cold and stubborn, with an admirable and cool edge, which balances out Beom U's goofy antics. I think they are very cute together, with a sweet chemistry, but don't expect anything intense between them. This drama keeps things very PG. There is way more banter than sparks.

The rest of the cast plays characters that are either quirky, unscrupulous, or a little of both, but the performances made them all feel pretty real and less two-dimensional than the way they were written. One standout example of that to me is Oh Min Ae as Han Yeo Ul. It wasn't until the very end, during a surprisingly tearjerking scene, that I realized how well she played her character all along. What this cast does very well is make this simple, silly story work. That's harder than they make it look.

Would I watch this again? Surprisingly, yes. It's far from perfect, and there are parts of the story that I liked a lot less than others, like the sudden second lead storyline, but the pace of the drama is quick enough that I wouldn't be tempted to skip anything. If I were in the mood for a quick romcom fix, I could easily binge this in a day or 2. There aren't any memorable rewatchable scenes, but there is a lot of food porn, and being a Kang Ha Neul fan is enough to keep me engaged. I guess watching him on screen is like comfort food to me. If it's so bad, why does it taste so good?!

Overall, this drama may be made from stolen recipes of KDramas past, but it was tastefully done. If you're looking for a more filling drama, I get why this may be disappointing to watch, but I'm starting to like snack-sized dramas more and more.
I would compare this to fast food take-out more than gourmet fine dining, so deciding to watch should depend on what you have an appetite for. The overall message is that food is about more than ingredients and acclaim, and is instead about the thought and heart behind making it. That is certainly not a new concept, and the message is pretty heavy-handed, but by the end, it totally got me straight in the feels.

Read More

Plot revolves are suicide & reincarnation> Good Main character chemistry

Family & historical/period dramas are not something I ever watch, so I passed on this series for a few months, but eventually the good reviews & the promise of a happy ending got me curious enough to give this series a try. The first episode almost made me quit because it dealt with suicide & reincarnation which put me off. The whole plot hinges on these 2 things so in order to watch this I had to treat them simply as fantasy elements. The stories of the individuals that were being "helped" in every episode were unpleasantly heart wrenching & unbearably tragic. The over arching story was also extremely sad. What sold it for me & kept me going was not only the acting, but the the chemistry between the 3 main characters. Yook Sung-jae's character was particularly compelling, (like a stray lost puppy). I was satisfied to get an old fashioned happy ending for all 3 main characters. So, although loathed many elements of this series, I really found the family element & the premise of odd people finding their match, & redemption enough to give this a high rating. I typically purchase a series if I rate it highly, but this series is not one that I will watch again, just too much tragedy & heavy drama

Read More

Cartoonish Dirty slapstick humor . Female lead is bland, Male lead is charming

This is the first Taiwanese Drama I watched & There are SO many cultural references that are not translated, so there's alot that just is inexplicable to me.
The humor, while brilliant in it's execution, is punctuated with sound effects. It's like they're imitating cartoons. so when someone is surprised there is a "boing" noise and at the same time, two people turn their heads in unison, which looks incredible, but the joke itself is not to my taste.
The main actress is bland & boring & her best friend is odd looking & childishly constantly whines. The operations manager acts like a rude cartoon character. The selfish & mean female manager (that every guy is crazy for) looks like an American & wears the same expression on her face throughout the series. The physical comedy is like the 3 stooges but dirtier. the series gets bogged down in the middle as they stretch out problems that really were already resolved .I started to feel numb & began to hate the characters for being so stupid. There IS a happy ending, but getting to it is painful
high score for the male lead.

Read More