Reviews

Nothing amazing, but worth the watch, if not for anything else but Momo

I enjoyed watching it, but I wasn't blown away into loving it. Momo definitely made the drama, he's adorable and I loved his acting. Sumira was kind of annoying and it took her forever to realize her feelings for Momo. I am definitely a fan of lots of skinship and I loved all the moments between the leads, but I wish their had been a bit less between her and the SML, who I thought was rather annoying.

Overall I'd say it is worth watching, but I don't think I'll personally ever watch it again, except for maybe only a few scenes between the leads, because some parts were really cute.

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Wow, oh wow. I truly enjoyed this drama.

【Ｓｔｏｒｙ】10
I normally do not enjoy stories based around supernatural abilities and was hesitant to watch this drama. Though, I kept seeing it on the top of ranking lists and being recommended on the K-Drama social circles and after watching it, I now understand.

While the story does heavily revolve around this premonition ability, it is handled extremely well and never feels over used. I think this is what sets it apart from other dramas that revolve around a singular supernatural ability, that I do not care for.

I also love the general development of the story overall. The pacing is great and I never once felt a sense of boredom or thought that a scene was dragging on. This alone makes the story get a 10 from me. It is like finding a diamond in the rough.

【Ａｃｔｉｎｇ／Ｃａｓｔ】10
The casting for this drama is spot on and everyone performed an incredible job. The main cast felt like they fully embodied their roles. Just fabulous!

The acting was so good that when a character felt an emotion, I also felt the same emotion. Whether that be sadness, happiness or even anger.

【Ｍｕｓｉｃ】10
It was enjoyable music, never felt over used.

【Ｒｅｗａｔｃｈ　Ｖａｌｕｅ】8
This is one of the few dramas on my watch list that I will for sure rewatch.

【Ｏｖｅｒａｌｌ】10
Wow, oh wow. I truly enjoyed this drama. The story, acting, camera work, all of it was amazing. If you have read this far, I implore you to watch this show yourself.

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A Somehow Refreshingly Cliched Twist on the Battle Royal Trope

I never imagined my first review on this site would be for Squid Game.

I've been a fan of the battle royale trope for as long as I can remember. Battle Royale, the Hunger Games, Alice in Borderland, all are my favorites. I first came across Squid Game through Netflix's Youtube channel and expected to dislike it - at the time, the trailer looked childish with its colorful uniforms and funky looking game regulators with shapes on their helmets. Nevertheless, it stayed on my to watch list, and as the days passed, so did its position on the Netflix Global Top 10 charts. I decided to give it a go.

THE GOOD
What made this drama compelling was its non post-apocalyptic setting, something I'm used to in battle royale, as well as the games. Utilizing games from cherished childhood memories as modes of death was an eerily fresh take. I found the majority vote as a means to an end creative as well, leaving the illusion of choice to both the characters and to us the audience. It's true that actual participation isn't "forced", rather, the preexisting circumstances of each character made the reward money all the more incentivizing. I loved its economic class commentary, moral ambiguity, as well as cinematographic ties to art pieces. Visual artists and fans of thriller like me will definitely enjoy.

THE OK
I found myself persuaded by the acting despite being impartial to the screenwriting. I don't know if this was on purpose, but Gi-hun's face was quite punchable at times. Maybe it was an attempt to portray his gullibility? Not sure, but actor Lee Jung Jae did as well as he could balancing the pathetic yet sympathetic role. I was impressed by Jung Hoyeon's role as Kang Saebyeok (though I'm a little biased since she's been one of my favorite models <3) especially since the idol/model to actress pipeline is so saturated. I wasn't expecting much though. Objectively speaking, her microexpressions really allowed 067's vulnerability to shine through. Stoic characters are surprisingly hard to portray - I'll remember hers for quite a while. Wi Ha Joon makes a pretty officer, but other than a look into the "villain" side of the story, he wasn't offered much substance. Park Hae Soo's role as Sangwoo was memorable and convincing! I kept expecting him to be more morally gray so being caught off guard was pleasant.


THE BAD
This is where I feel most conflicted. Certain deaths were highly predictable just based on screen time and backstory alone. Unfortunately the screenwriting left little room for emotional connection. Sure, deaths were sad, but most of the time they were empty since I barely knew anything about the characters. Halfway through the show the games started to lose meaning. I even think one of them towards the end wasn't a children's game? I was left hoping for something more strategy-based or just a little more depth. Killing occuring outside the games added another level of chaos, as did the small game regulators' scenes, impacting the pacing negatively. The screenwriter didn't do the best job with the masked leaders either; choosing familiarity destroys suspense if not done well, and unfortunately that was the case here for me since I guessed correctly. 9 episodes was not enough. It's obvious to me that this many loose ends means a preplanned second season, which I'm not too enthusiastic about considering the sloppiness towards the end.

In conclusion:
Did I love this show conceptually? Very much yes. Would I recommend watching it? Still, yes, please give it a shot. Do I think it's worth the hype/critical acclaim its been receiving? Not exactly, but it's a major move for a Korean show so I'll celebrate that.

Regardless, Squid Game has left a lasting impression.

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Even a tragic ending can be an invisible blessing

One of the best kdramas I've seen. It's based on a true story during the Japanese colonial ruling times in Joseon Korea and has only 3 eps but so much to it. love, death, history, tragedy, musical, melodrama, forbidden love, arranged marriage, bibliography, rich male lead, poor female lead, star crossed lovers, disapproving parents, and more. Both male and female leads did an amazing job in portraying the emotions. This kdrama really showcased not everything has to end on a good note. Even a tragic ending can be an invisible blessing. Deffo one of their top tier work for me. I gave it a 10/10. Deffo recommend for everyone to watch it.

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An Underrated BL Series That Deserves A Wide Ranged of Viewers

This is my first review for a BL Series. After watching ATOTS I have this urge to put a review to show how much I appreciate this series. This is undeniably "the best BL Series GMMTV has ever made", it is now gaining the attention and appreciation from fans all over the world but I fell like this needs more than that. This series should be available in different video streaming platforms so that many could watch and appreciate it. It also deserves at least to be nominated for the best drama series not just for BL category but in general.

Story: I would be honest that the story or plot is kind of cliché especially the "heart transplant" part of it, but there's something unique on how the director, writer and production staff executed the whole narration of the story. The way they tell the story of each characters are above and beyond even Torfun was given character development. There's right amount of romance, comedy, action, and slice of life on it but you wouldn't expect that they would come out as a masterpiece. Societal issues were tackled here, the difference between the rural and urban areas, the education system, the unfair treatment of rich and poor, and of course the homosexuality. Kudos to this series for treating homosexuality as "normal" and not just part of the plot. You would really appreciate it especially if you watch the conversation between Tian and Tul, this is not your typical BL which has "I'm not gay but I'm in love with you" type of story. There's no too much skinship on this series but I think it was necessary since I was able to focus on the story. There were flashbacks but it was done perfectly, the editing was the best I've seen so far.

Acting/Casting: Earth is not new to BL but he didn't have the break he deserved until ATOTS, many only see him who has the "body" but didn't have the acting skills but when he was partnered with Mix everything changed. The chemistry was top notch they were able to convey their emotions in every scenes just only by staring to each other's eyes, small movements that speaks affections are overflowing. I was actually surprised that this was Mix first drama series but good thing P'Aof (the director) was able to see the hidden talent of him. He was a big help to Mix acting debut. The heartbreaking scenes would really wrench your heart so be prepared. EarthMix will be the front runner for GMMTV future BL Series.

Music: I'm in love with the music, very calming and relaxing, when you hear the theme song every time the series starts it's like you were being pulled by a new world and you would enter the ATOTS world, I might be exaggerating but that's how I felt.

Overall: Given the astounding reviews and ratings of "A Tale of Thousand Stars" it really stood its ground as the "Best BL Series Ever Made" maybe not just for GMMTV but for the whole BL industry. Life lessons are flowing here in this series. After watching it you'll have this internalization in yourself about the value of life. ATOTS set the bar so high that this might be a rare chance that we will watch this kind of series.

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Starts off good but then becomes a waste of time

If you came to this drama because other gaming related rom coms like love o2o, you are my glory, or falling into your smile… DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!
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This drama starts off with so much potential being
very cute & funny, with a sorta original story line. But sadly as the story progresses it turns into a big waste of time. I don’t want to give any spoilers away. But it becomes one stereotypical drama trope after another with a story line that seems insulting to watchers intelligence.
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For example … the writers expect us to believe that after the female protagonist finds out the female antagonist setup a situation In order to get naked pics to blackmail the best Friend into tanking the protagonist career … that the female protagonist is not going to be extra carefully and weary around the antagonist? IT MAKES NO SENSE that this female lead wld continue to believe what comes out the villains mouth and would leave critical notebook lying around before her first ever broadcast.
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The drama also lacks the satisfaction of seeing swoon worthy romance a towards the end. The couple had more romantic moments when they weren’t dating than when they actually got together, then they break up for really no reason but lack of communication only to reunite in the last 3 minutes with a hug.

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ENJOYABLE

I'm not really into Japanese dramas, I'm more into kdramas but this one was recommended to me by one of my friends and so I tried it. By the first episode, I already enjoyed it... Idk how, but It just happened to be a very good story.
I got very hooked to this drama that I even skipped a lot of my assignments just to watch this. The story is sooo good. It was well-written and The plot was very intriguing to watch. The characters are sometimes dumb but It's totally okay. Some kinda embarrassing moments too that gave me second hand embarrassments... but overall, it was a nice experience watching it.



I recommend you to watch it :))

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TIME TRAVELS

I literally love this kdrama.
Everything was organized and this was one of the best in 2021. The main casts were both from a kpop group (RV & pentagon) which makes it 10x better T - T
The story was very thrilling and exciting and of course romantic at the same time.

It's basically about a girl who have a crush on a boy and that boy died and she tries to fix the present by going back to the past and finding what really happened in the boy's "suicide" because she can't move on.
BIG PLOT TWISTS AHEAD...

there's a lot of twists there that will make you anxious and shocked :))

enjoy watching it.. TOTALLY RECOMMENDED ?

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A Very Different School Drama That Has A Good Moral Values.

First of all, I bet everyone who watched this drama will have different feelings such happy, sad, bitter and also sweet.

The drama started with some preludes from an ending of the drama. I think because of the production want to make the audiences felt curious or suspense with the plots of the drama. I want to make this review short but meaningful so I will skipped the synopsis of the drama.

▪️Opinions
~ I thought this drama would be the same with another chinese school drama (FL having crush to ML or otherwise). But it's really different. During high school, ML only focused on studying while FL like to play at first but later she become serious in studying too.
~ When ML and FL small, they liked to play. ML always follow and stay together with FL. FL was a naughty kid who like to play.
~ FL was in different high school at first but later she change to the same school like ML. But they were in different class. During high school, the storyline only showed about FL with her classmates and her studying. Maybe because of her life more interesting than ML since ML only liked to study.
~ FL got through ups and downs during her school. At first she has a boy desk mate but later he transfers to abroad. Then FL needs to change her seats by staying with class monitor since she did not focused in class when staying alone. Her class monitor doesn't like her since she likes to play. But later she became closed to each other and her class monitor also helps with her studying. Her best friend, Lin Yang Yang was getting a mental illness since her parent divorced and her mother want to marry with another man. So FL was feeling down since she cant helps her best friend and later her best friend quits the school in order to get a treatment.
~ ML also helps FL with her studying because she failed the test and got mad by her parent. She want to change her grade in order to make her parent's happy with her. Fortunately, she succeed in increasing her grades.
~ Later, ML attended to university first since he so clever with his grades and able to get the grade skipping and seat for college entrance examination first.
~ FL doesn't know what to pursue for her future since she only know to eat and become happy. But her best friend Yang Yang makes her want to study in psychology since she wants to help her getting better. So she want to studying in psychology and attends the university that have the psychology course.
~ FL parent only want to make her staying near with their house so they want to register her at the nearest university. But ML helps FL to register her course at the university that she wants. These had caused FL parents mad and send her to stay with her grandmother before the college registration.
~ FL met SML during her staying with her grandmother. She grew to like him because he was a handsome guy and she also knew that he was studying at the same university with her.
~ In university, she met her new best friend with the same course as her and they became closer. She was the only friend that she knew.
~ ML doesn't knew his own feeling. He denied that he had fall in love with FL. When he saw FL with SML he became jealous and want to pursue her. But it was a bit late since FL already fall in love with SML.
~ I think the drama was a bit hard since ML and FL keep missing each other. It was either FL with someone else or ML with another girlfriends. ML will couple with two people before he gradually accepted his feeling with FL. I do not know why the writer made the story like this because it was a bit bitter to accept.
~ Even though ML couple with another woman, he doesn’t looks like he was happy. He acts as a robot who doesn’t have any feelings. He only accepted them since they’re want to be with him. I think it’s was really hard for ML to forget his feelings toward FL. Since he want to forget his feelings so he trying to get into a relationship. Sometime your first love was really hard to forget since you was in a deep love.
~ FL also have some drawbacks during her university life. She encountered with mental disease because of losing her best friend (class monitor). She died from cancer or tumor diseases.
~ Then FL happened to lose her job as assistant at Hospital since she witnessed the professor doing some manipulations by lying about his patient's illness and asked them to register a long treatment at the hospital even they do not have a severe illness.
~ FL also broke up with SML since he was dishonest person. They were having a different opinions and it made them to argue and splits.
~ Apart from that, ML sister was hospitalised because of tumor disease. She was going to has a surgery but FL doesn't come to see her. It caused ML and his sister to get angry with FL. They were having a bad relationship since then. FL parent also got mad on her because of that situation. Thus, FL was really on her sucks situation that caused her mental disease got in bad shape.
~ There were a lot of crisis happened during her university life. If I was her I also would not able to accept all the situations. FL was a brave person since she able to start a new life. She quits her job then back to her hometown to ask for forgiveness. Her parent knew what was happen to her and decide to let go everything. ML sister also understands her situation and agreed to accept her forgiveness.

▪️Characters Intro
~Wu Yu Heng was a young handsome actor. I loved him as he was so handsome. He acts as Li Yi Mu, was a straight man who only knows about studying. He want to focus on his studies and getting a good job. He also knew how to look into a good investment and very interests in it. He only has one friend since he’s young and she was FL. He always helps her when she’s getting into trouble. Even though he doesn’t accepted his feelings toward FL but later he can’t denied it. He keeps falling in love with her. He was successful in his life and getting a good job.
~Xiong Qiqi was a naughty girl. She likes to play and not serious with her life. She only knew about eating and sleeping. Later she changes her mind and decides to study hard. She getting into the same university with ML and getting a boyfriend who was her senior that she’s been liking. She also got many experience about love and life. When she was getting through ups and downs with her life, she decides to start a new.

▪️Overall
The drama was ended with a happy ending. ML and FL got together in the last episode when ML finally can accepted his feeling towards FL. Even it was not quite satisfying but it was okay since finally they were being together. I loved this drama because it gave a lot of moral values to me. I can understand that you will not always get on what you want. Even ML want to express his feeling and makes FL accepts him but it doesn't happened like what he wants. If you watched this drama you will able to understand what I want to say. So just enjoy the drama :)

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Started out fine, charming characters and was entertaining, but turned into an absolute sh*t show

I have never written a review before, but the ending was so stupid that I had to warn someone.

The first 12 episodes are good, the rest are complete garbage. And there are still useless plot points that don't go anywhere in the first 12 episodes, but the characters are very enjoyable so you shrug it off. But it becomes intolerable after that.

Pointless drama. No communication. Added character out of nowhere with cliché plot. The DUMBEST ending of all time that is an absolute insult to viewer's intelligence. The writers need to lay off the crack. Nothing about what happened those last 2 episodes was excusable.

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Well-Crafted Melodrama

The key to this drama is managing expectations. While this drama has noir, mystery and thriller themes, at it's core it is a melodrama. It's not a bad thing; South Korea is excellent at crafting melodramas and probably my favorite genre of Kdramas. But since this a melo, not a crime drama, things like civilians openly conducting investigations along with the police or classic logic fails are par for the course. It's more about the drama, the story and the characters than accuracy or depth. Keep that in mind and the ride will go much smoother.

The absolute BEST part of this show is the acting. The leads absolutely nailed it. The glances, the facial expressions, the small movements, everything was on point. Certain scenes might not have packed the same punch if it was not for those two. They have brilliant what I call non-kissing chemistry - they can give the couple vibe just by being next to each other. The support characters also did a very good job and all the characters came to life.

Story: The story, for the most part was pretty solid. It starts off a little slow but builds up to a delicious and addictive flow. The writing for the last third was not as strong, but the story finished off to a respectable end. There was some shortcoming in the story-writing minutia and some personal things that frustrated me but overall, everything made sense in a satisfactory way. I will half a point off just because the show was initially presented to be very dark and thrilling with the theme of exploring morally grey characters but did not really go in that direction.

The highlight for this show for me was MCW's Cha Ji Won; she carried the show for me. From a story perspective, I appreciate her role as a active character whose actions directly affected the story line. As a character, I loved how she thought through things to make informed decisions and her strong love for her husband. I admired her perseverance, her compassion and her no-bullshit moments. LJG's Do Hyun Su/Baek Hee Sung was also very good and it interesting to see the character development he goes through. Something that really frustrated me was that he had a very subtle paternalistic side when it came to the females in this life which lead to him keeping secrets or not properly communicating with them. I honestly couldn't tell if this was done on purpose to show the background he grew up in or if it was the writer's bias seeping in. It is subtle and not directly related to the plot but did affect me enough to 1) notice it and 2) dampen my enjoyment.

The Baek couple was also interesting. They were not how they seemed at first and ended up being the greyest characters in the show. I wish we got to spend more time with the police team. Their interactions so natural with no forced team dynamics. I really liked Chief Lee despite his short screen time. He was so low-key I would initially have a hard time remembering he is the chief but he is the kind of leader I would dream of having. He knows when to push, when to let things go and how to keep his team together.

The music was amazing and really enriched the emotions of certain scenes. The lighting, camerawork and was also top-notch and another reason why this drama excelled. It has pretty good re-watch value.

Overall, this drama is a visual and auditory treat to watch with great characters and good plot. Go in expecting a very good Kdrama melodrama to come out satisfied.

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Yikes

In the first episode of “Police University”, much of the screentime is shared by Choi Woo Sung and Oh Man Seok who are essentially the de facto family of the main character Kang Sun Ho played by Jung Jin Young. Choi Woo Sung’s part generates a few chuckles and Oh Man Seok gives the episode a certain amount of gravity as he guides Sun Ho through a difficult ordeal and towards the titular school. Compared to the average drama, they’re not particularly noteworthy parts or characters but specific to the qualities of this production, they serve as the apex of entertainment value.

The remaining characters, storylines and acting performances have painfully few bright spots. Krystal is an accomplished actor but the character of Oh Kang Hee has not much to do except to serve as the love interest of Sun Ho. Seo Ye Hwa is one of the finest character actors in the industry and puts a noble effort in playing an administrator of the school but there’s just so little to work with.

As for the rest, it’s generally difficult to identify whether the flaws are because of the actor portraying the character, the dullness of the storyline, the ineptitude of the direction and editing or the banality of the dialogue. Most scenes are a train derailment of repetitive dialogue, exaggerated facial expressions and oddly timed cuts between shots. The most obvious examples are Lee Dal and Yoo Young Jae who play Sun Ho’s pals Beom Tae and Joon Wook. They are written as comic sidekicks, but the attempts at comedy are juvenile and painfully unfunny. While Lee Dal and Yoo Young Jae might garner laughs with better material is doubtful, there is at least faint hope that they have some modicum of talent that could be revealed in future works.

Despite the towering whirlwind of blame to be shared throughout the cast and crew, one particular individual stands out as so blatantly incompetent that even with better talent alongside him and behind the camera, he would have still have no chance at performing at a professional level. In episodes 2-3, the only possible compelling drama was the boot camp ordeal lifted straight out of “An Officer and a Gentleman” - Instructor bent on drumming out a cadet is met with the youngster’s desperate perseverance to stay. It’s a duel of wills between two men passionately bent on proving the other wrong. It’s hamstrung by the nonstop recital of cop cliche’ dialogue from Cha Tae Hyun’s Dong Man who wants Sun Ho to out of the university. But the dialogue is a mere distraction to the flat delivery, clownish expression and awkward movement from Jung Jin Young.
Instead of admiration for indomitable spirit, we are left with a string of painful cringes and a desperate hope that it will be over soon. There are other actors that are equally unskilled tasked with lead roles, but there are some small redeeming qualities that those individuals usually have:

Pretty
Pretty and tall
Pretty tall?
Jung Jin Young has none of these traits. If there is any moment where Jung Jin Young appears to have some idea of what he should be doing it is when he is running. However, it seems to be effective only when he is running away from the camera and we are fading to the next scene break.

Some of the OST is not terrible, but that is scant solace.

Not recommended. Not even a little.

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Utterly Disappointing

I was looking for a light, quick, easy binge. I found series this b/c of YouTube video this weekend with cute boys as the backdrop (that's my weakness), so I wanted to watch, plus the 10 min per ep run time was not too bad.

However, this show went from breezily fun and interesting to just plain stupid in a matter of 8 episodes. The last 2 episode could have been left out completely. Actually, quite annoyed b/c I really enjoyed the first 8-10 episodes for the most part but the ML, Meo Ru became too stupid to live. He's the first guy I've ever had to say that about. and everything else went downhill fast. Nothing but nonsensical dialogue and behavior from the entire cast.

No real character development.

No real story development.

I am utterly disappointed.

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