Reviews

Fun and engaging but has no connection to reality whatsoever

I enjoyed this show. It's full of twists and turns to keep you interested, and you care about the characters because they're well-acted and charismatic. The plot, which was the primary focus of the show, had its good points and bad points. It was good at keeping you guessing and taking unexpected turns. I was never able to predict the clever ways in which the heroes were able to solve every problem, because their plans always encountered big obstacles, like the villains finding out about their plans, etc. However, this repeated pattern ended up being predictable because it happened again and again. And the plot was totally unbelievable. Why would a bunch of grifters and criminals suddenly decide to work so hard and risk so much to help the government collect taxes? There was a little bit of talk at the beginning about them getting a small cut of the collections, but that fell by the wayside, and it seems like they were getting nothing out of it at all. If they were such idealistic and altruistic Robin Hood types, why didn't they feel guilty about all the money they stole from innocent people as career criminals up to this point? And I never totally believed the bromance between Seong Il and Jeong Do. It happened too quickly. Actually, none of the relationships were satisfying. But the actors did a great job fleshing out underwritten characters. So overall, it was entertaining, but it could have been much better if the script was a more grounded in reality and paid more attention to characters' motives and relationships.

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Amazing show,not just for its story but also it’s popularity…

I didn’t know what to expect when I first started to watch this show,I had ideas in my head of how it could be a Korean version of Alice in borderland(which I love of course-peep the name of my profile) so I was really looking forward to it and some ways it is similar to Alice in borderland but also very different.

Story-
I loved the concept of the show the whole show has a underlying theme on just how far your would go to save yourself and gain wealth,for the players that participate it test there characters and who they are as people,my favorite episode has to be gganbu, reminds a lot of the episode in Alice in borderland where arisu and his friends have to play the big bad wolf game against eachother,it brought out a lot of frustration and almost tears at one point.

Characters- let me just say hoyeon jong (kang sae byeok) was by far and away the best character for me,first moment I noticed her in the train station when she gets bumped into even know you can’t see her face fully,I was more intruiged by her having seen half of her face for the rest of episode,to say that this show was first time she was properly acting is unbelievable,she killed it,and she’s honestly one of the best looking Korean actresses I’ve ever seen, Ali and ji yeong get a special mention too I really enjoyed them in the show because they were to honest decent people.

Negatives-not many things popped out for me but I obviously wanted sae byeok to win so I was pissed off when they decided to blow up all that glass and injure her for no good reason really and then 218 kills her.

Overall/ wether you think this is overhyped nonsense or the best thing to come on Netflix in years this show is now on track to being Netflix’s most popular show EVER,that’s crazy because this show is a kdrama,this show will therefore open the door for so many big shows for korean actresses and actors, I will create so much exposure to the world that korean shows are in fact every bit as good if not better than the likes of stranger things and money heist, Vincenzo and itaewon class just to name the big ones,

My point is this show will be a game changer for the korean industry, I absolutely loved it.

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Need to Cheer Up [Milk]? Watch this! :)

the number of scenes that had my heart racing from the adorableness exuding from the two characters’ interactions (minus that misplaced anger punch towards the end there) was enough to keep me craving more. i enjoyed most of the scenes with Sang Ha since his character was the sweet-smiley type with a tragic backstory (shoutout to the dead moms in dramas who drive the plot postmortem). also, can we talk about the actor who played Sang Ha, because i don’t know about y’all but the fellow can act. he had me close to tears when he was talking about when he starting delivering milk (i may never again look at a milk carton without shedding at least a single tear). wasn’t expecting a loan shark subplot or any physical violence (though not explicit) but overall found most of this drama cute and fairly well done. the kissing wasn’t dramatically intense or uncomfortably stale, instead it was surprisingly wholesome (quick/prolonged pecks did the job for this 8ep series). honorable mention to Sang Ha’s imagination for giving us an adorable couple’s dance concept (which i hope to one day recreate with my significant other/partner) already plan to rewatch this!

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An awesome and worth watching drama

I'm writing this review while watching the drama, that is to say that I haven't completed it yet. I think I'm gonna give it a try (writing it in this way), so that it becomes more detailed (don't worry it's definitely gonna be spoiler free) and my most accurate thought about it.
As you must've read the sypnosis already, lets skip that part and jump directly into the must watch reasons of the drama without giving a second thought :

1. The FL and ML really breaks the stereotype :

• She doesn't have bangs and a short hair, well that was more than enough for me to catch attention.
• She isn't the poor academic student (well that's really rare, isn't it ?).
• Infact she's a normal student, nor so good and so bad either ( The perfect balance ).
• ML isn't the topper of the class nor is he any celebrity kinda student. ( FL is shown as a famous student instead, but in a normal way no hype and all ).
• He isn't cold and talks with everyone, unlike other dramas where the ML is portrayed like some god or legend, hard to reach and all.

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Girls are great but the programme was not.

Man, where do I even begin?

Let's start with the pros:
The 10 girls were great! Loved seeing their friendship develop although they were in a competitive environment and the girls did very well for their assessment despite having barely any time to prepare.

The stages were also insanely good. The girls are incredibly talented in their own right. Zhuoxuan's vocals and all-roundedness, Yichun's vocals, Jieqiong's pipa skills, Xuanyi's creativity and dancing etc also made their own stages incredibly brilliant. I want to say more but please do yourself a favour and watch their stages!

Now the cons. Although I watched the programme knowing it was going to be a competition, the producers definitely made it a lot more competing than ideal. The girls were constantly pit against each other: they had to vote for who was the worst, who should not get to perform on the big stage, who did the best etc. Thankfully this ended before the 2nd half of the show and producers focused more on cute moments between the girls.

Han Hong the host. Not only was she incredibly biased to the contestants she liked, she was super cringey and made the atmosphere incredibly awkward. She would also mess up on who the girls were. Like. you're a host and there are only 10 of them. I dont know if she was trying to be quirky but it was annoying to viewers. You'll understand how annoying she was only when you watch the show. Best if you just skip her parts entirely. Also, when she threw her cue cards in the first elimination I was just like. What? She also straight up told a contestant that she couldnt help them and told them to work on it on their own. (as if she isnt yknow, PAID to help them?)

Lastly, the show leaves viewers with a feeling of it being unfair. Somehow Yichun made it to the finals despite lacking severely in dance, having a poor attitude throughout the show (insisted on her way despite being the weak link of the Yamy-Yichun duo, messing up the VVS music video and in turn voting out Xuanyi who helped her etc). For their musical assessment, for example, some of them were just given more difficult parts although it was a competition. Their stages also had a clear disparity in the standard of their guests. Some people got well-respected seniors of the industry (Zhou Bichang etc), while some contestants got paired with juniors. Although nothing is wrong with that, it should have been more equal since this is a competition in my opinion.

Also the royalty pick of iQiyi series winning is no surprise but as a viewer, I think there were many more deserving girls. The producers also did not try hiding their favouritism.

Overall, despite my seemingly mostly negative feelings about the show, I would still have to give it a 10. Having stages in China for idols is rare and I'm glad this show was a good platform for them to showcase their skills. Their stages alone are already deserving of the 10/10 stars.

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Okay But Nothing Special

This is a standard kdrama Rom-Com. There is no real depth of characters... no twists in the storytelling... nothing out of the ordinary. It has the cutesy Rom moments, and the Com isn't so annoying that I fast-forwarded it (which I do if it makes the difference of enjoying the show or abandoning it).

Pros:
*The opposites attract kdrama trope, which I personally think is cute.
*Beautiful buildings, set designs, etc.
*High quality filming, cinematography, lighting, music, etc.
*Decent acting for the main leads. Both are fine and their chemistry is okay.
*The comedic-relief characters are annoying, but not so annoying I want to stab them.

Cons:
*There are some tropes (especially near the very end) that I'm not a fan of at all.
*100% predictable in every single way (I knew those tropes were coming--very obvious)

In short, it was watchable af. I cruised right through in no time at all. The cons for me were just "meh" rather than deal breakers. They were manageable because 1. They happened late (didn't have to suffer through 4-5 trash episodes) and 2. I knew they were obvious, so I wasn't as irritated when they popped up.

If you're looking for a rainy-day watch of something mindless and fairly cute, this could work.

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The story development between both main characters were well done., the areas of improvement was the whole Company v Company war that was on and off. The friends/side character romance was abit annoying to watch, mainly because of their immaturity/behavior.

Dilraba & Johnny does shine in this drama, having seen Dilraba's work out of order from You are my Glory to Hot Girls to Sweet Dreams to Pretty Li Hua Zhen definitely shows her range of acting prowess, as well as ability to captivate the audience's attention. I would rank her performance here 2nd behind You are my Glory.

The one area they could've gone into more about was how the two companies got into competing, other than the fact one guy wanted to get revenge for Si uei, the daughter of one of their teachers that passed tragically. That story was brushed over, even though that's the main reason those two companies got into fighting one another to start with. Otherwise their feud is very pointless, as Bai Sai's chairperson eventually just gives up because (1) his competitor helped save his butt (2) his wife was about to divorce him. So the reason for all this feuding has to be significant like Bai Sai wasn't favored by So Yue, or they were ex lovers and she passed, so he was bent on revenge or something.

Regarding with the conclusion, it ended where it started which was perfectly fine, not everyone will find love & happiness, some are destined to keep searching. I did like how they kept to the title of the show, which was Love Designer, which could have several meanings ofc.

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Typical BL, but Not???

Yes, I won't try to act like this wasn't the typical engineering BL, but for some reason this felt way better than the others ones?? Nititman made this overused BL style feel more authentic and proficient. It brought along the cliché BL tropes, and some repetitive plot devices, but it was also a really nice love story that felt like you had seen it before, but with a few differences.

Let's Dive In.

This was a Thailand BL for you, the most thrown in plot devices you can think of mixed with a few side character problems and singing. Nititman felt like a mix of UMWA (y'know, without the suicide and stuff) and what My Gear and Your Gown wanted to be. It was pretty much just cuteness overload with the little slice of naughty cake and a scoop of comedy and angst to go with it. The only thing this series missed out on was character development. There was no change in anyone except feelings and that was it. Not saying that most engineering BLs do this on the regular, but it would've been a nice touch for this one.

As for production, it was decent. There were time when the lighting was nicely done and colors were used to show subtle moods and I loved it. This was another BL where I didn't see many ad placements, if any at all. The songs were actually really good and I found myself not skipping, so there's a bonus.

But no BL is perfect and this once can attest to that. Let's start with this whole "trying to get Jin and Bbomb to f*ck" situation first. I don't need to go on and on about how terrible this was, cause, you know, don't drug your friends?? At least Bbomb didn't act on those feelings much, and when Jin said no he listened, but something that Thailand BLs do and do only is take serious matters and make it laughable. Not funny?? at all??? At least U had enough sense to see that what they were doing wasn't okay, but of course, he was the anomaly in this situation so his feelings didn't matter. Moving on, The receptiveness of plot devices was astronomically pestering. How many times did Jin need to "break" his foot? How many times did someone need to be jealous of another? How many times did they need to be drunk? I mean, this list goes on, but my golly, I can't do it. I felt like I was watching the same episodes over and over again. There's no need for the repetition of these things, once is enough, and maybe had they done that, Ball and Keam could've gotten at least two more minutes of screen time.

Surprisingly, I didn't have too much of a problem with the overly-obsessive BL fans except for them posting it online. Find a life, I beg of you. And STOP WITH THIS GOD-AWFUL TROPE. It's okay, we can have a mlm love story without outsiders pinning for them. I think I didn't mind it that much cause I LOVED Aruy. He was HILARIOUS and I don't think this series would've been the same without him. (found out the same director here did Oxygen in which was even worse with Yaois, Lawd)

Onto Jin and Bbomb. While their start up was a little iffy, their execution was pretty nice. The one thing they did so good on was actually looking like they liked each other. Even with the way they laid in bed together, how Bbomb spooned Jin and even how he caressed Jin's hair when he was laying on his chest. It was the small things like that that attached me to this couple. Jom did a pretty good job, he was able to actually cry during sad scenes and his smile didn't hurt either. This was Noh's acting debut, so I'll forgive some of his very stale acting and one-and-only facial expression in the hopes that he'll do better in future projects. (But his character didn't have much of a personality other than liking Jin and being good at everything).

Let's move onto the biggest problem of the series, KEAM AND BALL. Ball was a ray of sunshine, and Keam was literally running away because he was too fucking cute. THEY NEEDED WAY MORE SCREEN TIME THAN THEY DESERVED. Ball was on maybe 4 or 5 episodes, and it felt like we were getting somewhere until nothing happens? We got a two-minute something at the very end of the final episode, but that was NOTHING. We need a second season, precisely for Keam and Ball to do literally anything.

They teased at Jay and Song a lot, and I loved their dynamic, so Imma need some more of them if we get a next season. U and Ultra seemed like they could've had something, even Singh and Jack had a little smidge of maybe something that could of happened, but they both had their own girl problems, so probably not. If anything, they had a great on-screen friendship that I really liked. Their comedic touch lightened the already lightened plot.

Overall, I honestly loved this series. Yes it was typical, yes it was cliche, but I loved every single minute of it. This is the BL that BL is all about. No actual act of importance, stupid lovey-dovey tropes, and singing. what more could I ask for? I do recommend for anyone trying to get into BL, it's an easy watch and entertaining one too.

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Short life is like a dream. Only my love, Shi Yi deserves my lifelong pursuit

First of all, this drama spoils up major things for One and Only in the beginning only. So, BEWARE OF WATCHING THIS DRAMA IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH {ONE AND ONLY} LATER…

Me personally, needed this drama so much after One and Only. The experience was simply healing but could have been better maybe…

Should I talk about Acting? No, it was up to the mark. Of course I will mention my favorite BAI LU. She's so phenomenal and her outfits here. Oh! I want them all. And Ren Jialun is fine Af. Together these two are not less than any eye candy.

Beginning got me like "ok, ok this is another Sweetness loaded C-drama that I watch every year." But slowly this made me realize No, there's more things in this drama. Tbh, most of the supporting characters felt numb to me in beginning and I was bored too at some points as I was comparing Both the 2 dramas. But later on every character got it's own track. If you have completed One and Only, don't jump into this directly. Wait for some days or maybe a week before you start this one as this Drama will feel bland to you after that emotional rollercoaster.

My only complain here is that they didn't show how their relationship developed in beginning via Emails…

Shiyi and Chen's journey after meeting each other officially was so precious that how they used to be awkward but slowly became each other's soulmates. I like how Shiyi was always the one to take the initiative. Chen was not good with words but when he finally said something romantic. It was so much more special. There were moments when it just came out of my mouth like "Aww so Cute". The ending episodes almost gave me diabetes.

[24/25 eps] mid-ending thoughts (spoiler free) —
The writer(Mo Bao Fei Bao) did it again! She knows how to create a complicated story and make us cry…
Once again it feels like I am watching O & O. Even though the dramas are different, setting is different, yet I got the same emotional rollercoaster from here. As I wrote previously in a post. I will be running out of tissues if this continues… And then that kick and back to back punches by Chen. Woah loved that scene. I was just thinking, it would be perfect to have a scene like that here… I kinda like Allen doing action scenes. Tbh, He nails the action parts!

[ OST time ]
♪Continued♪ — Shan Yichun
♪Heart Beats♪ — Bai Lu {her voice is so sweet. It felt like any little girl is singing it. Aww}
♪Time Froze♪ — Yan Ren Zhong {heard this singer for the first time and Wow this was so good}
♪Give you, Give me♪ — Mao Bu Yi
♪Where to go♪ — Lu Hu

♪Time Froze♪ is my favorite OST from the drama.

Conclusion – A healing drama for those who watched One and Only or it's yet another regular C-Drama including Awkward Professor Chen, Step-taker Shi Yi, few happy/sad supporting characters, a lot of family drama and nothing else.

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Very interesting show, not a bad watch at all..

This was pretty good, could have been better though and I'll explain why.

I loved the story a lot, I cannot complain much about that, the whole idea of the mysterious FL was pretty good, and the rich and goofy ML, usually its the opposite, its great to see this change.

I loved the FL character from beginning to the end, she was a no nonsense, i can defend myself, cool and classy FL without coming off arrogant. Her mysterious background really kept up the suspense which I liked a lot, and her outfits were all soo beautiful, definitely a plus for this drama, tbh basically all the outfits were out together really great, what a breathe of fresh air. The intro song or rather instrumental i really liked it a lot.

The ML was great, all the previous roles I saw him in he was always serious, who knew he was can also be this diverse and act like a total clumsy guy lol. His outfits were sometimes weird, but it matched his character haha, he was also pretty funny and crazy at times, but he did a great job with his roles.

The villains, and secondary characters were also very good as well, the one girl really makes you wanna go crazy lool.. The other supporting cast were all pretty good, the ML bestie and bodyguard, assistant, i think he was his everything haha, i loved his character as well, good characters.

The romance was nice, but tbh... at one point i was so sick and tied of seeing the supporting cast, like who's drama is this?!.. later on in the show you literally hardly saw the leads, it was so annoying, you got more romance from the side couple which is crazy, if they had worked more on that then i would have given a better ratings. I skipped most of those stuff in the later episodes, even the leads there was intimate things they didn't do until much much later in the show, weird.. but they did have good chemistry, that wasn't too bad.

All in all, I have seen some really terrible dramas, this was definitely not a bad drama though.. i have no regrets watching it.. it's good to watch after you seen something that's heavy

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Gratuitous violence

To begin my review, I'm someone who doesn't like gratuitous violence. But, if the story was interesting enough or if I had liked the protagonist I could still enjoy it. But that's not what happened. I didn't like the protagonist at all and that's nothing new about the plot, and the games were no fun either. There were times that the pacing was horrible, just couldn't stand it. The production it's amazing, but I've watched kdramas enough to know that they are almost always amazing. Overall if you like more of a battle royale story with good production and don't mind that the characters are mostly scumbags, give it a try. If you are more like me, who doesn't enjoy gratuitous violence and that needs to empathize with the protagonist to enjoy the story, there are plenty of better kdramas out there.

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Darkness That Truly Shows You The Light Inside

This drama was well done. Every movement was on point by each actor who was possessed. The music suited every scene perfectly. The supporting cast was so well assigned. I was even a huge fan of how the plot unfolded and moved forward. Every time we think we found something out a new twist would arrive.

Also it’s hella creepy and dark a lot of the time. Its supernatural aspects were so well thought out and depicted. It’s not easy to give life to this much level of detail of possession and the aftermath it leaves behind.

I love how each characters relationship was well fleshed out. You grew to love every character and understand why they would go to the lengths they go. Some actions at times feel too much, but with a new perspective you understand exactly why it’s that way. There was such good friendship depicted throughout the show. Not just our mains but their familial, coworkers, and old friends.

Tears happened in this drama so often. Emotions would well up and I love when dramas evoke emotion that way. Makes it the best kind of immersion one could ask for.

I’d watch it again most definitely. Give it a shot.

Sara Rojas SEPTEMBER 28 2021

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Surprisingly good rom-com that managed to tiptoe through the cliché minefield

This show has been on my watch list for a long time but the synopsis gave off the wrong tropey vibes for me so I kept skipping over it. Recently, I dropped a bad rom-com so I thought, "I can't do much worse". I'm glad I finally committed, it was surprisingly good.
First of all, this is not a big budget production. There are no big names or famous city as a backdrop. The production value is good through and there were not a lot of PPL, certainly not egregious. The OST is nice and totally serviceable. I liked that the ML's are handsome but not idol level good looking. The FL's are attractive and looked natural which made them more relatable.
The first half of the show is pretty much as expected. A head strong manhua artist decided to use a cold college professor as her template for the ML in her next comics. She has never been in love so she sucked at drawing romantic scenes. At first, he was just an interesting research subject but over time she fell in love with him. Of course, there were lots of push/pull and ambiguities. Nevertheless, she was brave and focused in her pursue of him. By the mid way mark, he was in love and they became official. Yes, there were cliché moments but there was no shock twists. Clichés were handled with a deft hand and you won't get worked up about stupid plots holes. But then I was overcame with anxiety because I have seen many shows expending all their energies in getting the CP together and then after a bit of CP bliss, they'd turn their laser focus on breaking them apart by any means just so that they can engineer a 11th hour happy ending. I'm grateful that this didn't happen. Sure, there were lumps and bumps along the way but their love was strong and they were the A-team and push back against all the Forces of Evil. Hazzah!
Another aspect which I found satisfying is the communication between the CP's. Of course, there were misunderstandings, jealousy and doubts but issues were never left to fester and they were resolved quickly with some straight talking. Another one is the age gap between the CP's. All the CP's have significant age differences and while some show will milk that for tension and be judgemental, this show just took it in its stride. It was part of the story fabric and you can take it or leave it. There was also growth in all the characters which was good to see. For example, the ML went from a cold and aloof character to become a kind, considerate and hot blooded BF. The 2FL was a bit of a seductress in the beginning but she became a super loyal GF to the 2ML.
In so many Chinese rom-coms, the 2/3OTP is either angst filled or just a convenient way to park the M/FL's best friends and provide a bit of down time for the 1OTP. Our 2OTP also had a rough start but while they did not have as much screen time as the 1OTP, their trajectory were similar well plotted and had more attention in the second half. Their love also grew stronger with every challenge. The strong 2FL definitely wore the pants in this relationship.
This brings us to the FL's. All three were forthright with their approach. They didn't hide or play dumb but push hard towards their goals. Ok, may be not so much for 3OTP because their pairing was a bit iffy but the 3FL knew what she wanted in her heart as well.
I'm glad that the show can see the tropes coming and it is wise enough to use them in a positive way and not be subsumed by them. Time and time again I expected the worse but good things happened instead. That made the show engaging and very watchable in my book.
The show is not perfect. There are script issues and some of the younger actors are still a bit rough around the edges but the positives outweigh the negatives. It is light, funny and sweet but not to the point of sugar overload nor was it overran by non-sensical plot twists. I enjoyed it so much that I binged it.
P.S. I watched this on Tencent official YouTube channel and every episode had the same audio issue whereby the dialogue track would randomly drop out for a minute or two and for no apparent reason.

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Grips you with each episode

Such a moving story of 2 true blood brothers and their beliefs / ideals about how their country and government should be like.

It was indeed 49 episodes but never felt like they were that many.
Weaved in was a very apt and sufficiently sweet romance between the younger brother and his wife whom he loved more and more only after marriage.

Story: 9.5
The spying within enemy lines simply kept me going . It was so intense and suspenseful that I couldn't help but to stay up late into the night to watch more episodes. It was very painful and heart-wrenching to see each of the communist individuals sacrifice themselves (most of the time via suicide) just to keep their comrades' identities and the mission(s) they had to accomplish, safe from the enemy/authorities. I ask myself often, why would the Chinese keep killing their own people as the torture scenes resemble so much like those of the Japanese . What was humanity like in the past ? This drama has caused me to back to my history textbooks on the worldwide RISE of COMMUNISM by Carl Marx. The only thing that I am pretty upset about such a storyline is that almost all of the key characters had to die at the end. Shen Fang's entire family (including his wife, his father in law and his house servant Uncle Hu) except for his elder brother Shen Lin, all had to die so tragically, some even did so sacrificially. How I wish there were more that survived.

Acting/Cast: 10
Each character was intricately weaved in and their emotions were clearly evident and full of realism from the 1st to the last episode. I cannot give anything better than a perfect score.

Music: 10
The lyrics of the OST are very appropriate
Music was also grim and relevant for the storyline throughout.

Re-watch Value: 9
Any spy story will always have a high re-watch value by me...This one is no exception because of the suspense that will keep you looking forward. Only thing was the torture and gruesome parts that might not be so comfortable for some viewers.

If you love spy dramas, this is another one highly recommended for you. At least it keeps your mind moving unlike those daily 'lovey-dovey' dramas which most times are pretty impossible to believe in reality.

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