Reviews

The BEST BL show I’ve seen (till now)!

I watched ATOTS while it was airing and looked forward to spending my Friday nights with the show! Everything from the acting/cast, to the cinematography with beautiful locations, OST and storyline was simply perfect! What I liked the most was how the series didn’t need to show many intimate scenes for us to understand the love that was growing between the two leads.

The second half of the series was especially good and I was crying so badly every episode (Ep 8 - 10 were just crazy good)! I love how real it got towards the end and they did not try to give us a “fairytale” ending. Things happened when they were meant to happen and I love that about the show!

I still cry every now and then when I revisit my favourite scenes! Overall, I give it 10s across the board and I would recommend everyone to watch it!

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Waste of time

Despite not being a fan of P'New's previous work that I have tried, I gave this a shot simply because it's an anthology. I thought surely there would be a few stories in here that I would like.
Even though I was not liking any episode I kept watching one episode after the other hoping that the next one would be better, maybe the next story or the next couple would win me over but by the end it is pretty clear that it was just a waste of time.

Since each story gets a single episode the focus should have been on fleshing out the characters and developing the story and romance as much as possible in the limited time frame but all the episodes were filled to the brim with unnecessary scenes, long stares, characters doing and talking about the most mundane things and all sort of other filler.

This use of filler and stretching out the story when you don't have enough plot to back it up is a signature style of P'New and something that I despise in all his series. I really hope that he tries to improve this.

Ep 1- Would you be my love? 4/10
Santa and Earth's chemistry was the only saving grace here.

Ep 2- Rhythm's heart 2/10
There was literally no conflict or chemistry here. IDK why they even bothered making this.

Ep 3- Remember 4/10
I was looking forward to this the most and it ended up being so meh. It felt like the first episode of a bigger series rather than a complete story in itself. But TBH if they make a full series of this I would not be interested because this just so disappointing.

Ep 4- Once Upon a time 5.5/10
Balloon's conflict was actually really good but they didn't really explore it much. And I didn't root for Mek and Balloon's relationship.

Ep 5- Break up Zone 2/10
I love friends to lovers and I am quite surprised that they could make me hate my favourite trope in this episode. Plan literally cannot act and their progress from best friends to lovers does not make any sense to me.

Ep 6- VS Love 7/10
This is probably the only good thing to come from this series. It actually had a plot without any filler and I liked the chemistry and how their relationship developed. If you don't want to waste your time like me then just watch this and call it a day.

Ep 7- 50% 3/10
Perth is a very skilled actor but he was bogged down by bad writing here. The main characters do not have a single proper conversation in the entire episode, so I didn't buy they romance at all.

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Disjointed and messy

Even the ever-charismatic Lee Je Hoon couldn't save this mess of a show. His grounded acting style was wasted on weak material. This show didn't know whether it wanted to be a cheesy romance or an exciting take-charge adventure, and in the end, it failed at both.

Lee Je Hoon's time travelling So Joon is introduced as a closed off character with a tragic past, but he transforms much too quickly and is mostly good from the start, so there is very little growth. And Shin Min Ah's Ma Rin is written as helpless, ignorant, and rather blank until late in the show, which is both annoying and cringey. The characters get stuck talking in circles or hiding the same secrets from each other for multiple episodes while the exciting elements of the plot are underutilized. Furthermore, the characters' back stories are not fleshed out so we don't care much about what happens to them. The leads both come across as one-dimensional.

The most fun I had was watching Kang Gi Doong in his supporting role as So Joon's best friend and ally. I feel he carried the majority of the show's emotional weight. On the other hand, the antagonists were annoying and angsty, which made it hard to buy in to the major conflicts they created.

Right away, I was turned off by how the main relationship begins. It is so unbelievable, strange, and cheesy that you wonder whether it was taken from a different drama. In the end, I believe the root of the problem is the show's poor writing and direction. The scenes showing the characters' reactions and aftermath of big, dramatic events is frequently cut short or so poorly done that we don't get to see how these events help the characters develop, nor do we even have the chance to emote or find connections with them. The second half was a bit better after time travel became the focus and the entire show switched gears, but it was too little too late.

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Tiptoing around forbidden puppy loves, jiā yóu!

I enjoyed watching this drama, but I cannot help but feel that it's perhaps overrated a tad. All the glowing reviews are not wrong of course, the bromances, the slice of high school life were up there. The entire cast was great, the leads had great chemistry & looked wonderful together and there is more than enough fluff and sugar in the drama for my liking.

So why is this not one of my favorite cdramas? Well, the high school episodes (1>14) were certainly decent, but I feel that the high school years were perhaps dragged out too much. In China puppy loves are frowned upon & I'm sure censorship also comes into play and so the end result is that the leads were crushing on each other real hard from very early on, but due to the aforementioned limitations they kept tiptoeing around the issue. Doing that for 2-3 episodes before graduation would've been okay, but it was more like 10 episodes here. There was perhaps a repetition problem too, with some recycled plots. The bigger problems surface in episodes 15-20. I always hated the rejection/separation due to noble reasons trope, but that's minor compared to how annoying the leads had acted in that period. "I will keep chasing you, I will never give up"proclaimed FL, fastforward 1-2 episodes & FL's resolve immediately faltered due to an extremely minor misunderstanding. Considering how much shit FL went through to finally stand in front of ML this could not have been going any more against her character, that's just sloppy writing. I must also mention that one of the biggest reasons behind said noble rejection makes zero sense, since it was revealed later on that ML's family still kept their pretty luxurious apartment from before.

As for minor annoyances, there were quite a few of those as well. It's like the writer couldn't decide if the main character should be poor or upper middle class. Following ML having to work to pay his father's medical bills we reach a point where ML & FL kept throwing around hundreds of thousands of yuan, but later on once again we reached the poor phase, where Si Yue could not afford a proper wedding ring. Using arbitrary writing like this just to activate that not so great double proposal trope does not sit very well with me.
It's also mildly annoying that almost every single obstacle the OTP had to overcame in their adulthood was something really annoying & cliche. (plagiarism, copyright X2 etc)

The love triangle is frustrating too. Luckily there is not a whole lot of it, though it gets PRETTY DAMN ANNOYING at one point. The main issue is that the second ML is once again the usual kind senior/childhood friend character. It's equally annoying every time how the FL pretends for 20 episodes that she is completely dense about the whole "being courted" situation & once she is confronted with his confession(s) she keeps ignoring the situation for quite a while more. Unnecessary plots, unnecessary character and he has gotten a mini redemption ark even.

People in the comments kept comparing this to You Are my Glory, well that's a pretty weird apples and oranges comparison, but if I ignore the obvious differences in genre, I can only say that Glory is a hundred times better. Even as high school dramas I cannot help but feel that A Love So Beautiful(the cdrama, not the newer kdrama) and Lovely Us resonated with me a lot more..


All things considered I feel the 7.5 rating is more than generous.

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Definitely a must watch RomCom

The drama is highly recommend to watch. RomCom cohabitation. ??

The Ml is experiencing spring time haven't had his first love yet. Cold and narcissistic but strangely nice. And wen this little creep called L O V E came hitting him he became Little childish and silly in front of his CRUSH to get her attention.

Stealer of the series Granny/nana she is really funny and adorably cute sweet and nice. Matchmaker for the ML FL. She could be really silly plotting something for the couple clever nana.

The only thing looks really bad is the 1st female support third party pooper she acts psycho and crazy about the ML. Well duh, the ML FL are still married legally even they're living contracts. Throughout the series shes annoying.

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Didn't Work For Me

Honestly, I’m really surprised because everyone seems to like this series the best out of all of the Girl Next Room stories— and considering my love for OffMild, I was expecting to feel the same. I love Mild, and I love Off, and I LOVED Duchess’s outfits throughout this series. But otherwise, this really wasn’t the show for me. The plot wasn’t my cup of tea, and the over-the-top direction and acting felt very out of place in comparison to the other Girl Next Room series. I really didn’t enjoy the story much at all until the very end of the fourth episode. The climax there and then everything in the final episode was really good, but I just wish I had liked the first 2/3 of the show.

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So-so.

If you are into story wherin leads have strong chemistry, this is for you! The male lead is very good in depicting love at first sight. I watched this because of him. I love Qing qing's character too. She adds color to the story. She is the second reason why I watched the show.
For the white snake, I understand it's not Ju jing Yi's fault but her character is bland. Like ugh. For the plot.. the dragging of story mades it boring though honestly speaking, it is not too cliche. Like a not cliche story but not beneficial to the whole. Also qing qings lover just vanished to thin air after the sad ending. The ending is rushed.

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What does love look like?

Stuck on you is a short Pinoy series following two very different strangers who, through some unlucky coincidences, have to quarantine together.

Story:

- Despite poor production quality and evidently low budget, it is clear that some effort was put into getting the message of the story across.

- what I appreciate about the story is it’s sense of realism. It’s set during the pandemic and addresses how it affected people’s work lives, personal lives and mental health.

- the script of the drama however lacks attention to detail. This is made obvious by the behaviour of the main characters. Some of their choices or behaviour either doesn’t make sense given their personality or doesn’t make sense in relations to the situation they’re in.

- The story itself has the feel of a weak wattpad story about the mean guy and the nerdy one. It was cheesy (in a bad way) and therefore difficult to enjoy.

Acting:

- the characters had flaws, which both frustrated and satisfied me. With JM being detached and pretty rude and Rem being hopelessly romantic.

- the acting specifically was pretty weak and was hard to watch a times - but that might just be due to the cheesy script.

Music:

- the song , ‘Naghamamahal Din Lang’ is definitely what I liked most about this series.

Rewatch value:

…..I think it’s clear I wouldn’t rewatch this one.



Personally this show didn’t work for me although I appreciated the message. It lacked a certain hook or addicting quality that would make me interested in the outcome.

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Social Commentary on the Intersection of Class and Identity that Loses Sight of Itself

I will start off by saying that user "Proxy" wrote the strongest and best-worded review, which entirely captures my feelings on the show start to finish. My additions are brief, but I think relevant:

1. I do not enjoy media that essentially holds up a cue card for me when I am "supposed" to feel a certain way; I just like to feel that way because I am so immersed in the story. Squid Game felt like a constant slap with this card, "Be sad now! Be shocked now!" and I could never truly experience those emotions.

2. I have a concern that the VIP moment, where he attempts to sexually coerce and assault the undercover officer, perpetuates the stigma that gay men are predators. There is no other gay content in the show--for understandable but unfortunate reasons--so this made me extremely uncomfortable. Given such a popular show is gaining such popularity in areas which are progressive AND conservative socially and politically, and because much of this popularity is occurring through apolitical consumption , I worry what this presents for the (my) gay community. This is a historical issue for gay representation in media, so I hope the reception doesn't follow previous representations of such a stereotype and have real-life consequences for gay people.

The acting was great, but the story lost itself, and the ending was absurdly bad. The show absolutely kept me hostage. Did I enjoy it? Not really. I won't rewatch. I appreciate a user who turned me to Alice in Borderland instead, a death game show which does not at all lose its purpose and has a canon trans character.

Squid Game was worth the one viewing if just for the class commentary and the very solid acting. But that's really it.

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Binge-worthy with a timely life lesson

This is the first kdrama this year that I’ve watched every episode in one sitting. Its 8 ep run is very entertaining and the story was wrapped perfectly.

Yoon Shi Yoon shines as the main protagonist with a very low self esteem. His portrayal was so convincing and was just right for me not get annoyed with all the self-pity of the character. He’s such a good actor that I kept rooting for Do Yong Shik all through out. Yoon Shi Yoon was still able to embody a character that is so loveable (Some of my faves from him are Enrique in Flower Boys Next Door and Da Bong in Hit the Top). It was the first time I was introduced to Ahn Hee Yeon. She had good chemistry with Yoon Shin Yoon. I love the facial reactions she made while portraying Lee Ru Da.

The plot was unique and tackles a relatively sensitive topic for a “conservative” people. There was a double meaning with the title “You Raise Me Up”. It was not only talking about the main character’s erectile dysfunction but also how he was able to develop confidence and self-love through the series. It has a timely message for some who had doubts due to the pandemic right now.

The music in this drama was great. Gonna check them out.

All in all, it was binge-worthy. And, it delivers a heart-warming message to everyone. To always believe in oneself and not to judge other people. Also, to find happiness even in little things. :)

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On hold...

I came for Steven Zhang and screenwriter Wang Xiong Cheng. I just finished Go Ahead so I was very excited to see that they had another show out there. I truly was excited seeing some of the same actors and actresses in this series but I am kicking myself after watching the first episode. I did not look to see who was cast or read the summary.

First off, I have a very bias opinion of Liang Jie. I have seen two of her dramas and her acting just annoys the heck out of me. She has the same personality, characteristic and I just can't see her improvement so therefore I'm putting this on hold. I'm so disappointed and upset because I think this series would have been up my alley but they chose the wrong actress.

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