Completed
Takara-kun to Amagi-kun
0 people found this review helpful
21 hours ago
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 7.5

I think It's worth a watch!

I was curious about this show after reading quite mixed reviews on here so here's my two cents.

Overall I enjoyed the watching experience, it was really cute. I understand why some people say the timeline is confusing, especially in the first two episodes. But I had no issue just using context clues, it wasn't that hard to understand. There is definitely a lack of plot in this show but I liked that. All of the misunderstandings are small and resolved with good communication In a timely manner. As a result, there is very little conflict in the show but I prefer this to unnecessary, stressful, and annoying drawn-out miscommunication plot points that are too often used especially in BL. The acting was a teeny bit awkward sometimes but it did not bother me at all, the chemistry of the leads made up for it to me.
One little thing I really liked was all of the random conversations you can hear the friend groups having, they really felt like something you'd overhear high highschoolers talk about, not just boring small talk.

This is just a really fun, lighthearted watch, I'd recommend giving it a go! It's nothing revolutionary, but if you're in the mood for a sweet BL, It's a nice one!

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Ongoing 2/12
I Saw You in My Dream
0 people found this review helpful
22 hours ago
2 of 12 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0

Finding love in premonitory dreams

From the first scene, 'I Saw You in My Dream' not only grabs the viewer, it proves to be a special LGBT-themed romantic drama with its cozy vibes, delicate emotions and tender sentimental messages.
Each well-written scene highlights the protagonists and their charming personalities, helping me understand them as individuals. I empathize with the skillful narrator, who describes a tender bond between two childhood friends and neighbors. The first impression, after watching the first two episodes, gives me confidence that it will convey a healthy and beautiful youthful romance.
The possibility of romance does not take long to emerge on the screen. Although initially focused on platonic interactions, the main characters are two university students who share games and noble fun.
However, everything changes when Ai, just on the day she turns 20, in the middle of the Christmas and New Year holidays, begins to have premonitory dreams, that is, those that end up happening later. Having dreams that seem to foresee future events causes him distress and confusion, since they are related to Yu, his friend, whom he sees suffering a tragedy or kissing him in the privacy of a darkened room. This triggers in him, on the one hand, the desire to protect him, and on the other, love, but at the same time he does not know how to handle the situation due to the fear of losing his friend.
This is how the series immerses the viewer in the complex labyrinths of friendship, love and self-discovery, presenting the moving story of two inseparable friends, who find themselves on an emotionally challenging journey. What they believe about themselves and what they feel about each other is not a constant – unlike many situations shown in the series that seem to remain unchanged: games in the garden of the house or in one of their bedrooms, the search for hidden treasures, sharing the birthday gift...
In the environment of their childhood and adolescence, their homes have witnessed countless laughter, games and shared secrets. However, as they reach adulthood, they face new desires and emotions, and endless questions about who they really are and what love is. What makes this period of changes a sea of ​​confusion for the protagonist is that over time he realizes that he loves Yu. Do you have to hide your feelings to preserve a friendship intact or is it time to take a risk to be authentic with yourself?
Ingkarat Damrongsakkul, the actor who plays Ai, is sensational. He brings sweetness and youthful innocence to an emotionally honest performance. Ruy, as he is known by his nickname, embodies his character so convincingly that Ai feels like a genuine person with complex thoughts and feelings drifting from his premonitory dreams.
This role is perfectly designed to highlight the best qualities of the actor who starred in 2015, at the age of 12, in the film 'How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)', a drama for which he won the coveted Best Actor award cast at that year's prestigious Suphannahong National Film Awards/National Film Association of Thailand Awards.
'Quarantine Stories', 'Fierce & Furious Academy', '2 Moons' and '#HATETAG' are other BL series in which Ryu had the opportunity to take on important roles.
For his part, Putter Phubase Pratumrat, who plays Yu, radiates a pleasant charisma. The actor who starred in one of the stories of the series 'My Universe', specifically the one titled 'Lucky Love', and who made his debut in 2022 in a supporting role in the BL 'Our Days', has a cheeky charm boy next door guy who helps you understand why Ai dreams about him. Unlike his friend, Yu is an outgoing and confident boy who likes photography and video games.
Ryu and Putter are a joy to watch: they establish an engaging and comfortable relationship, while sharing wonderful chemistry, which never makes accompanying them in their developing relationship boring at any point.
Visually beautiful, 'I Saw You in My Dream' contains many reflective messages about the loves between two boys of the same sex, members of the small Thai Catholic community, something that is new in BL series from that country, especially if we take into account that for the Catholic Church, homosexual acts and behaviors constitute a serious mortal sin because sexual relations must have a procreative purpose and take place within marriage, which is indissoluble and made up of the union of a man and a woman according to their identity. biological.
As Ai experiences various challenges, she must learn to handle these difficulties with maturity and confidence. Fortunately, our hero has a great support system, from loving parents to supportive and respectful friends.
Likewise, the story of Yo (Surf Patchara Silapasoonthorn), Yu's younger brother, and Ing (Game Orarig Tanoi), who in turn is secretly in love with Yo, will be interesting. Both will give rise to an always-awaited second couple that will increase tensions and conflicts.
Tee Bundit Sintanaparadee, the director, opts for a sweet romance, filmed in warm tones with soft touches of romantic comedy. The Thai director, who with the series 'I Feel You Linger in the Air', 'Hidden Agenda', 'Step by Step', 'Something in My Room', 'Lovely Writer' and 'TharnType', among others, became In a chronicler of love and the daily struggles of a young generation, he returns to familiar territories to reveal some of his obsessions: homosexuality, family, youth and their emotional ups and downs.
For this, it has the collaboration of Prig Apichayar Sinithichayanon ('Hidden Agenda'), Chot-anan Kasamwonghong ('The Rebound', '609 Bedtime Story' and 'The Eclipse', Wannapa Lertkultanon and Natithep Wong-In, in charge of writing the script based on the famous Afterday novel of the same name, who build real and sincere characters and follow them in an unprejudiced and natural way.
'I Saw You in My Dream' is at the same time a coming-of-age and a coming out, that is, a traditional growth story in which a firmly closed closet timidly begins to open to the outside and from which those who are inside. The director obtains from the young cast naturalistic performances – although clearly marked by a classic script in its structure and route – that are largely credible and fresh.
At the same time, he explores in a simple and kind way in this authentic work that shows the process of growing up and self-discovering the complexity of human relationships even in a context that seems to be simple and comfortable for the characters. After all, they are lifelong friends, they are doing what they love to do most, which is sharing time together, and they have beautiful memories of what their lives have been like.
The casting decisions are correct, the cast being made up of actors and actresses committed to fiction and the performances being very natural. Nothing is forced in this series and that makes the story take its time and immerse the viewer in the thoughts of each character, without looking for a plot, a turning point or a moment of dramatic explosion.
The choices regarding locations, even those public places due to their scarce presence of personnel outside the filming, are successful because they do not distract from the central point of 'I Saw You in My Dream': the indescribable bond in words between Yu and Ai. The characters are the ones who have to be there; There are no distractions of any kind during the series. At times it may seem like it is moving slowly, but deep down it is because it is a work more focused on the development of the characters, instead of a traditional narrative structure of beginning-middle-end, although it does not lack this aspect either.
The series seeks to portray first love, self-discovery, friendship, family ties, study, passions, among other issues, in a very natural way. Although young people go through situations full of doubt and confusion, the audiovisual gives a certain luminosity to the messages it transmits and the way its characters are followed.
The director knows how to capture the sensitivity of the story he wants to tell and the feelings that blossom in the protagonists. At no time does it fall into common places, neither in relation to the construction of the characters nor in the development of the plot. Let everyone be as they are, do not judge them or justify them.
The characters are very real and sincere and the cast does a good job of carrying them forward. The actors manage to portray the universe and the stage of life in which they find themselves in an unprejudiced, natural and enjoyable way, showing the sensations and reactions of young people their age.
The setting is also achieved. The cheerful landscape of both boys' houses, the shared garden, the fence that divides one home from the other, the university, the church and the places they visit, are settings that color the series with a certain nostalgia, joy and romanticism.
The other notable aspect, and nothing minor in the plot and form of the series, is the music. This plays a fundamental role in the story, being a means to express the characters' feelings without them having to recognize them or have uncomfortable conversations. Many times they even don't know what's happening to them and the music lets those sensations flow. Plus, the soundtrack is original, catchy, and sounds good.
The musical score by Banana Sound Studio, and the songs composed by Sorawit Sangpupas and Thanawin Keawsri, and performed by Ryu and Putter, are not so much company as they are an essential complement to the story. That is, the songs help tell the story, but not in the usual way of the musical genre but rather as a soundtrack that expresses youth, doubts, and also fears.
In short, 'I Saw You in My Dream' is a coming of age and an effective coming out that turns out to be sensitive and intimate, simple and complex at the same time, quite original, without the need for large concrete conflicts to resolve.
The work of Tee Bundit Sintanaparadee invites the viewer, depending on the moment in life they are going through, with empathy or nostalgia the process of growing up, of making decisions, of self-discovery, of being young but not so young, of risking what one feels, and to travel through love even when there are doubts and fears: wait for it in premonitory dreams.

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Dropped 10/10
Love Sea
0 people found this review helpful
22 hours ago
10 of 10 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Which do you prefer, plot or body?

This is the second time the two leading actors have worked together!

The previous drama was very good, and the big scenes were also beautifully shot; I watched many parts many times, and I have been paying attention to the two of them since then, and I am very happy that they can work together for the second time; so I watched this drama with anticipation, but after watching a few episodes, I felt that it was not what I expected. The plot of this drama feels a bit weak, and the emotional line between the two people is a bit vague, and it is a bit purely for showing the bodies of the two people.

What do you think?

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Completed
Hello, the Sharpshooter
1 people found this review helpful
22 hours ago
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

may have actually enjoyed this if it had been 16 episodes TOPS

the real problem in this drama is that the "plot" or in this case the lack of a plot doesn't support 40 episodes. There was a whole lot of nothing going on + 0 credible conflicts to keep a viewer interested. There's a backstory and amnesia plot that we really don't care about and really makes 0 impact on the show anyway. (except to make the FL doubt the ML for 30 seconds of the show) There's a single evil girl who is used to create conflict here and there but still... we don't care. Other than that... the only conflict to keep us interested is evidently buried in the hearts of the FL + ML and definitely not interesting enough to keep me watching. I was over it by EP 12-16 but kept watching to see if anything new, surprising or interesting would happen. I was even praying for some big bad reveal of past events to crop up and liven things up but by episode 26-28... still a NOPE.

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Completed
Eve
0 people found this review helpful
22 hours ago
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0

Acting masterclass from the fls

So I was watching this while it was on going in 2022 but for some reason I never saw the last two episodes, now that its on Netflix I was like I want to finish it and I did it, I rewatched from ep 1 and let me tell you I was so invested, I had forgotten a lot of things and it was so thrilling like I knew the big things that were going to happen but still, I enjoyed it a lot.

The acting was impeccable, specially my two main girls, Seo Yea Ji was perfect for this role, she´s so captivating and shows a great spectrum on her performance, as for Yoo Sun I gotta give it to her, just incredible.

As for the story, the revenge part in my opinion was the best and most satisfying, the "romance" I understand it, it was well executed, I didn't love it, but I wouldn't change it either, I kinda shows just how humans are, she knew everything and knew it wasn't right, she knew he wasn't innocent but still fell in love, if I was given the chance of changing the final tho, I think I would have made her get over him in the sense of stop thinking what ifs and just show her growth and her moving on, but that's me, I know everyone would have a different take or wish

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Completed
Branding in Seongsu
0 people found this review helpful
22 hours ago
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Could be more subversive, but still interesting

Kang Na Eon is such a refreshing female lead character that got to be diabolically cool, smart, and cunning. She even has the smooth, swoony kdrama moves down like when she caught the male lead as he fell. Both leads have excellent chemistry too, starting with the moment So Eun Ho desperately dresses up in his literal funeral best and initiates some passionate kissing that she reciprocates. It was lamentable that she had to switch bodies so soon, but it was also cool to see how immediately went about acclimating and investigating the attempt on her life while in Eun Ho's body. She had a lot of cool moments while in his body, so I looked forward to her switching back because I really want to see a female character get to be a commanding presence, but the drama definitely favored her having intense and commanding moments while in a male form more alas.

The costuming for her started with her in the most garish colors like poisonous animals have, but she totally owned every outfit. I like that she took a liking to wearing suits after spending time wearing them in Eun Ho's body, but it's a bummer it's mostly over sized looks rather than bepsoke ones that would fit her to perfection. That would have been amazing. I really liked the reveal that Eun Ho was playing dumb and had a hole revenge plan against her too, blaming her for stealing his idea and the death of his girlfriend. The twist that Na Eon tried to fix the situation and apologize for it was interesting, the hint that she had a heart deep inside.

I found the body swap pretty easy to follow, there were even times where I felt like the show was over explaining who was in who's body. There seems to be two ghostly presences legitimately haunting Na Eon since it's not psychosomatic and Eun Ho experienced it too and later follows Na Eon to Eun Ho's body, one being the ghostly hands and the other being the body swap ghost girlfriend Da Eun. It's never explained but there was a bunch of people that rushed in to help the Da Eun before there was an explosion, so I wonder if they also died and are the hands. There should have been more of an attempt to explain how the switches are triggered and why is it limited. It was pretty arbitrary through out the end.

On the gender side of things, I appreciated that they didn't add stereotypically gendered movements to the characters when they've switched, it's more personality traits like Na Eon's aloofness and Eun Ho's over the top reactions which were an act on top of an act. On the other hand the portrayal of the only gay character Lex was suspect. It's totally fine he's effeminate and a fashionable drag queen, but the show had him be overly touchy to other male characters and the other male characters refer to him in gay panic moments. That's very unfortunate. The show seems to be making effort to destigmatize gay culture along with feminine hygiene, contraceptives, and sex toys, but still baby steps for productions that aren't lgbt specific.

The ending with almost all the antagonists redeemed except for the lone female executive was lacking. There wasn't enough from Yoo Mi or Nam Byul for them to be redeemed. Also Jung Woo would go as far as being so physically violent and attempted to murder Na Eon, erasing the evidence, and left her for dead is all forgiven because Hee Jung told him to is extremely nonsensical. That man committed a huge crime and she shouldn't be on friendly terms with him at all, at least not with how things turn out. Yoo Mi went off the deep end hating Na Eon's guts too and there should have been seeded more scenes of her caring enough about Na Eon for their return to friendship to mean anything. Otherwise her not wanting to murder Eun Ho is good enough for them to have some sort of begrudging understanding. Nam Byul was literally a character on the side plotting against Na Eon the whole time with no emotional connection to anything.

Though the drama would have been better if there was a bit more grit and angst in a bit of a darker tone, it was still an interesting take on the body swap genre.

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Completed
Company: Gyakuten no Swan
0 people found this review helpful
by pash
22 hours ago
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
Despite my partly Russian soul, I'll confess not being a big fan of ballet (my Italian side wins there, what with my love for Verdi and more generally for opera, as cliché as that will sound, LOL!). I was therefore quite surprised by how much I enjoyed this "Company"!
The story starts a bit slowly, in all fairness, but then from midway on it keeps getting better and more interesting.
The cast did a pretty good job, although some were better than others (with honorable mentions for Kuroki Hitomi, Kurashina Kana and my beloved Fujitani Riko - too bad her role is so small!!! T_____T).
The music was very good and the rest of the "packaging" also of high quality.
With a slightly different ending (* SPOILER BELOW) I would've given this an even better grade, It's still a very solid 8 in my book! ^____-

(*) SPOILER: I really didn't like the ML's wife and I was so shipping him with Oda's character, with whom I think there was a really great chemistry!!!

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22 hours ago
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
This review may contain spoilers
Being quite a big fan of Classical Music, it was of course with pretty high expectations that I started watching this "Sayonara Maestro - Chichi to Watashi no Appassionato".
I'm glad to be able to say that I really liked it, although the ending was a bit of a let down, honestly. More on that in a jiff.
The script was pretty good, the cast simply great (honorable mentions for Nishijima, Ashida and Nishida), and the music of course lovely (though the pieces selection got worse towards the ending, as far as my taste goes). The setting is beautiful and the production value top-notch.
So why didn't I give this a perfect 10? SPOILERS AHEAD, stop reading now if you wanna avoid those.
***********
The series had been, up to the very end, a beautiful and very inspired story of how a broken family could repair itself through mutual understanding and selflessness. Therefore, the ending felt such a terrible let down!!! After the beautiful letter sent by the ML's mentor from his dying bed (in which the old man basically told his pupil to cherish his loved ones and put them before everything else!), the "ML goes back to Europe to pursue his career" ending felt *completely* out of place!!! >________<
If I had written this, my ending would've been as follows:
They gather for their last concert in the contest. The major is moved to tears by his daughter's performance, and later (through some fast flashbacks) explains why he had so fiercely opposed the orchestra: his wife's death had been caused by her passion for music (it could've been anything, seriously...like for example, that she got run over by a car while crossing the street in a hurry so as not to be late to a concert...). But now he understand he's been wrong the whole time, and to make himself forgiven he decides to start supporting the orchestra, which can therefore go on without disbanding. As for the ML, he chooses to stay with his family (the wife going back with them too) precisely because of his mentor's letter. And as for the ML's agent, he can go back to Austria and who knows, maybe become Conchita Wurst's agent instead. So everybody lived happily ever after! ^____-

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Completed
Utsukushii Hito
0 people found this review helpful
by pash
22 hours ago
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers
Every now and then, let down by the current trend of J-dramas, more and more "americanized" or "koreanized" imho, it feels good to jump on a time machine and watch some "oldie-but goldie" from the Golden Era of Japanese Drama.
It's been the case with this "Utsukushii Hito", which until the very end I thought I was gonna rate as a perfect 10 and include in my "Top of the Crop" custom list...but then came an ending I really didn't like.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD, so jump the next paragraph entirely if you wanna avoid those! ^___-

Now, despite having been an avid J-drama fan for quite a long time (next year it's gonna be twenty years since my first J-drama!), I must confess not liking the way villains are treated by most Japanese scriptwriters. Look, I'm not saying that villains shouldn't be bad - that would be asking the impossible, LOL - but what I'm saying is just that if you have a villain poisoning everybody else's life throughout the whole series, killing, battering, abusing, deceiving, etc.....then I don't want said villain to get away with a metaphorical slap on the hand. I don't want them to be pitied by bleeding hearts, psychanalyzed, understood. And I certainly don't want them to get a completely undeserved happy ending (as was the case here!!!) while the good guys get a bittersweet (more the former than the latter, actually) ending. I want such villains to get punished, to get a gruesome death if possible, or at least a life-long harsh punishment (like, I could have been OK with this villain getting thrown in a cell together with "Bubba, the 7-ft tall, 300-lbs serial gay raper", who would've made his sorry @ss repent day in and day out! I suppose I'm more Chinese than Japanese in that aspect (I'm thinking for example of the classical Chinese detective stories - like those about the überfamous Judge Dee - whose last chapter is alway dedicated to describe in quite gruesome terms the killers' punishments! ^___-). OK, END OF THE SPOILERS. ^___-

Apart from the aforementioned ending, the script is very good. The acting superb. The OST marvelous. This could've been a perfect 10, seriously....but it's still a very solid 8 in my book! ^___-

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Completed
Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san
0 people found this review helpful
by pash
23 hours ago
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
A premise: I haven't watched the anime version of this "Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san" aka "Teasing Master Takagi-san" (I did read a few chapters of the original manga, but didn't find it that interesting, though), so my point of view is perhaps different than that of the anime's fans.
Still, I can say I pretty much enjoyed this drama, thanks to its relaxing, almost-iyashikei overall atmosphere, to its clean script and to the extremely beautiful setting!
As for the leads, they're both very, very young and there's still a lot of room for improvement of course (I did find the FL the better half of the pair, personally).
Looking forward to watching the sequel!!! 8/10

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Completed
Hitori Camp de Kutte Neru
0 people found this review helpful
by pash
23 hours ago
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
I had really enjoyed the two seasons plus SP of "Yuru Camp", and I honestly expected this to be, like, the more mature version of that one. But it was quite the let down, as far as I'm concerned.
First things first, what I liked: namely, the settings (that goes without saying!), the OST, the cast (both leads did a good job).
Alas, the script was the weak point of this drama, in my humble opinion.
With this kind of episodic structure, it was to be expected that some episodes were going to be better than others, but it honestly was worse than expected. I think the biggest problem lies with the FL character having been written that way (as a mostly grumpy and not-so-kind person, wary of others - particularly when they're males. I found that quite offensive, sorry).

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Completed
The Blood of Youth
1 people found this review helpful
by Apurva
23 hours ago
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Loved it! Most of the main cast were terrific!

I started watching the drama after I begun Dashing Youth, so I was looking to seeing the familiar characters and I already found so many. Sadly, Baili Dong Jun's had very little screentime but at least we get to see Sikong Changfeng. I'm sad to see what's happened to Lord Langya and his devotion. I can't believe Yue Yao is dead. Also, we weren't able to find out the identity of Qianlu's mother. It was also tough to see the repercussions of what happens when heroes fail.

Li Hong Yi's Xiao Se looked so much like Cheng Yi. And Cheng Yi happens to be my favorite Chinese actor. Before this I didn't really catch the resemblance between the two, but they could easily pass off for brothers! Xiao Se as a character was pretty good and consistent throughout the drama. He had to rely on people but he still survived. However, I was looking forward to his powers coming back and when they did the fight was kind of underwhelming. Tan Lian's fight to death was way better.

Wu Xin / Ye An Shi was not given enough screentime. When we first met him, he was more powerful and later on it seemed like his powers were muted. He kept getting hurt, was stowed away, or controlled. The story would have also flowed better had they kept him in focus alongside Xiao Se & Lei Wujie. Apart from that, he is such a fun guy to have around and grown to be kind person despite the past sufferings.

Lei Wujie was such a blast. I wasn't sure that he was Lei Mengsha's son's until somone spelled it out, before that I kept thinking why is he so similar to Lei Mengsha! He grew so much as the show progressed. However they tried to keep him weak, because someone was always there to protect him. And while that was good, I wanted to see his true potential unleashed. Ye Ruo Yi's character came late into the picture and seemed a bit like an afterthought. The romance between the two was cute and fun to watch. She liked Lei Wujie from the get go and wasn't shy about showing it.

Lin Bo Yang's Sikong Qian Luo was a okay character. I would have liked her more had she spoken with a little more maturity suitable for a women of her stature. I enjoyed watching her take on seasoned fighters and win when the others couldn't. But she lacked chemistry with Xiao Se. As this drama wasn't romance centric, it needed someone who could have sparks flying even with the little romantic moments they had. But ultimately they grew on me because I wanted to like them together.

I kept expecting a bit more from Baili Dong Jun' disciple but Tang Lian was not in the same weight class as all the others. His best scenes were, the very first scene we see him protecting Wuxin's coffin and then the last one where he finally seemed like the drunken master. I wanted to see more of that characters. Here's to hoping we get to see it in part 2.

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Completed
No Side Game
0 people found this review helpful
by pash
23 hours ago
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
Sometimes dramas perfectly match our expectations, and sometimes they end up being the complete opposite. And sometimes, as it's been the case of this "No Side Game", there's a bit of both, actually.
So, where did this series surprise me?
In all fairness, being quite the "supokon" aficionado, while at the same time not caring much (if anything at all!) for company-themed power struggles, I started watching this thinking I was gonna like the sports part and not so much the company one....instead it was basically the other way around, and I enjoyed the intrigues more than the sports.
Where it did match my expectations, instead, was for all regarding rugby. I must confess not being a fan (at all) of this sport, and this was confirmed, sorry but it's way too violent for my taste (I'm a baseball fan, 'nuff said, LOL) - although I know that there's a lot of good things in rugby: I remember they used to describe the two most popular English sports as "football is a game designed for gentlemen but played by thugs, while rugby is a sport designed for thugs but played by gentlemen". There's some truth in there, honestly...^__^
Anyway, the script is okay, the acting pretty good, and the "packaging" definitely above average. So even if you don't like rugby, this still makes for a pleasant watch! 7/10

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Completed
The Double
0 people found this review helpful
23 hours ago
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

decent revenge drama as long as you can believe the opening premise

This drama was probably the first good drama I have seen in 2024. There has been a lot of sub-par dramas released so far in 2024 so this drama was a welcome change.

If you can believe that a child can be framed for a crime they didn't commit (by the evil step-mother no less). If you can believe a father couldn't recognize his own daughter (even after 10 years), If you can believe said father wouldn't visit his own child for 10 years. you know, just to check up on her If you can believe a husband couldn't recognize his ex-wife after a few months apart (hey your daughter looks an awful lot like my ex-wife) . Then the rest of the drama is pretty good. For me the main knock was believing the opening premise that one person could impersonate another without any changes to their appearance, you know, just jump in and say hey, I am now Jiang Li, and you should just believe it .

Once you get past the initial set-up of the drama, the story and plot are pretty good and the drama moves right along, very little filler scenes. Not once did I fast forward through this drama. I liked the fact that the main villain in here was the psycho princess, a nice change from other dramas. This drama has a good revenge story line and is worth the watch......as long as you can buy off on the opening premise.

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Completed
Friend Zone
0 people found this review helpful
1 day ago
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

A Messy Mess

As the predecessor of Only Friends, the two shows share a lot of similarities: love triangles, trash friendships, questionable decisions and a lot of toxicity in general, but in comparison this one lacks depth. I never really connected with the characters. I felt for the most part they were very superficially portrayed. They were all over the place, jumping from one story to another and never really lingered enough to understand them. This show either needed more episodes or less characters for me to work better.

The most interesting part for me was the bl storyline and that's because the dynamics of those characters were richer in emotions, compare to everyone else. There was a little more care in that part of the show that kept you interested to see what will happen. With that being said, like in many shows of P'Jojo's, some serious issues were tackled here as well, that other shows usually don't bother to explore and I really appreciate that.

Most of the characters may have not won me over, but the actors were all great. I'll give a little more credit to Singto and Plustor, though.

I suggest this show to anyone who loves drama and messy storylines. It's perfect for you!

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