Reviews

A Better Watch The Second Time Around

I watched this drama while it was airing. I was also watching it while the web took was at it's peak and was actually good. I originally rated this drama 6.5. I was bitter they changed so much to the original webtoon and everything could not compare. Watching it a second time and with the web took being over (and disappointed how it ended), I really enjoyed this one much more. Unlike the webtoon, the characters, especially Ju Gyeong, have more development than the webtoon. You get to know more about them and why there's strained relationships or they are the way they are. The story had somewhat of a plot to follow. Yes, that plot is the love story, but they do sprinkle the self-confidence bit. It wasn't like the webtoon where it was always, "woe is me Ju Gyeong. No one else is important.

I think for the genre that the drama is, the acting was good. It's meant to be that over-exaggerated dramatic high school close-up with pained facial expressions style. It's supposed to be leagues more animated than the normal drama. Did I personally care for it? No. Would I have watched the drama if it was more serious? No. It was the right balance.

The drama circles around constantly to one song. Naturally, you hear that song a million times because of it. I don't blame the writers and there was other music, but you really take away remembering that one song.

Would I rewatch it? I'd be lying if I said no. Technically this was a rewarch because I couldn't remember a lot of what happened and wanted to give it a proper rating. With that aside, I honestly would not watch it again. It's not my genre, so there's no need to continue to force myself to try to enjoy it.

Overall, this was a cute drama. They stray from the webtoon in a clear, cohesive way that leaves it open to really develop the characters and understand what they're going through in that moment

Read More

I miss them already

I had zero expectation when I first watch this drama because I honestly only watch it for ZLS. The first few episodes were very cute though, especially the little water divine beast who had just hatch from the egg. However, as the story continued, the VFX was just so eeerrrr and it kinda irked me in some way. Maybe they were rushing with the entire thing, but it left so much to be desired from the VFX department. But then, overall, this drama got me crying, giggling, kicking my feet and rolling on the floor. The differences between A Yin and Feng Yin was so *chef's kiss* kudos to ZLS. <3

Read More

More Than Just A Boy Loves Girl

Admittedly, the first 2 episodes of this drama had me bored. I was ready to drop it. You are assaulted with the relationship and it's easy to get into that, "I'm a professional K-Drama-er" mindset and have yourself convinced you know exactly how the story is going to go. Then it really starts taking a dive into the story and it becomes one giant rollercoaster of emotions that have you questioning all the things.

While the acting was dry at some points, the actors were amazing. I know that doesn't sound right, but I don't know how else to explain it. The parts were played well, they were believable and relatable. The story was beautifully portrayed by the cast.

Was there music? I know there was, but I honestly can't say that it was super memorable.

I don't know if I'd rewatch this. Yes, I absolutely enjoyed this drama, but I don't think I could handle the emotional curves your constantly thrown, even if I do know what's going on already.

Overall, once I hit E3, I was hooked to this drama. The story is captivating, the settings are perfectly Tim Burton-esque, and how relatable it all was really hit home. Yes, it's a love story, but it's a different kind of love story, it's a mental health exploration, it's a put yourself first type story. I'm here for it.

Read More

Lacking Something

I know they were not able to add kissing and more. I understand but there is nothing more than brother friend feeling to the story. I personally thought the acting was good. There are three “couples” and they might or might not be in love. There are hints to say they might be in love but for instance the main lead’s sister never says I think they hang out together because they care for each other. would this be too much? I am not sure. I do think that China let them make a bromance story is probably a lot for them. There is still some kind of emotional attachment missing. The two main leads have a connection but it is not on a deep level. The side characters are way too comedic and the ending is too. I have watched stories where the leads never kiss and they have slight comedy but still the story gives a bit of room for emotions without the sudden comedic moment. The flow is off when the comedy overwhelms the emotion. This all may be due to the restrictions imposed. so this is worth a watch but not a multiple time watch. We will have to wait for these kinds of countries to grow up a bit. Seems childish to be so much against this when the world has big issues and problems.

Read More

REGRET WILL ALWAYS COME AT THE END

If you choose to commit suicide, please watch this series ... this series is an illustration that "REGRET WILL ALWAYS COME AT THE END"

The only thing I have to say is everyone and I emphasize it "EVERYONE" must watch this series atleast once. It's not very lengthy it won't take so much of your time but you'll learn something so great, and I think anyone who watches will have their own different take on it (ik it'd be beautiful), but I would say again this is something everyone should watch once.
I loved it and I feel so different and grateful for everything.

There's alot of Moral of this drama

No matter how hard is your life don't commit suicide, value your life, there's no second chance, You don't think about others around you how everyone care's for you.
Everyone have problem in their life no one is happy
Be strong (stop yourself from getting bullied by others)
You want to be like someone else (But they are also suffering from crisis)

Read More

very cute, but little else

I watched this title with my friend who loves ForceBook (after Only Friends). It's very sweet! The characters are quirky/fun and the plot is cartoonish. While it could be slow, it wasn't ever so bad that I was bored or wanted to drop it. We wanted to watch Force be hot and silly on our TV screens, and that was certainly accomplished. As a pick-me-up or feel-good show, it definitely has it's place.

That said, the story wasn't particularly original or well done. Particularly, a lot of the plot with Tian and Thoop was either haphazard, rushed, or a rather inappropriate tone to the rest of the story. It takes a sweet, unoriginal romcom and makes it just clunky and long enough to sink the rewatch value. I had fun!... but I won't be picking this up again.

Read More

this is my favorite kdrama of all time after years of watching them.

This kdrama was a masterpiece. A combination of mysteries, loves, actions, suspense, everything was perfect. It's rare that I'm not bored at some point during a kdrama, but this one, I was always captivated by what was happening. I think the actors are perfect and they were perfectly chosen to play their roles. I went through all kinds of emotions. I cried, I laughed, I was anxious and the list goes on. This kdrama was perfect. I listen to a lot of different kdramas and this is by far the best I've seen. I don't have enough words to write how I love and admire it. After seeing the ending, I hope there will be a season 2. If you're interested in seeing it, watch it, you won't regret it. I'm so happy to have discovered this kdrama.

Read More

Middleman's Disgrace

It's hard to believe that Middleman's Love and Bed Friend are in any way connected. They're so completely different, it's almost jarring. While I wouldn't say that Middleman's Love was a series I was hotly anticipating, I was curious about it and looking forward to it to some degree. Bed Friend had a host of issues, but Jade was not one of them. I thought Yim's portrayal of him was a bit one note and there just wasn't a whole lot to the character, but with the focus on him and a proper storyline, there was potential. Unfortunately what we got was a complete disaster. Where Bed Friend tried to be darkly sexy with a healthy dose of trauma thrown in, Middleman's love went for a rom-com feel, heavy on the slapstick comedy. It doesn't work and it was almost physically painful to get through. If it was any more than the eight episodes it was, I would have bailed and I very nearly did within the first fifteen minutes, but clung on because of comments that it improved. And while there is some improvement in the last two episodes, it's far too little, too late to make a difference.

The story is a pretty generic office romance between an employee and his intern. It had the potential to be cute, but there's so much crap and unnecessary drama to bog it down that it's anything but. And sometimes that's redeemable if the characters are likeable, but they weren't. I guess there's the theme that there's someone for everyone, but it definitely could have been done better. I was put off almost immediately by the animation sequence that started things off. It was weird and unexpected and pointless. There were a couple more instances of that and they failed to add anything beneficial. They just continued to be weird and pointless. Equally off-putting was the abundance of comedic sound effects. Those were eventually toned down, but still very much overused. Given the title, I anticipated the fact that Jade always found himself in the middle would play a larger role than it did. In effect, it really played no role as it was mentioned a couple times, but that was about it. I think the drama could have been much more interesting if they had leaned into that concept and how always being in the middle really affected Jade. The NSFW scenes were...interesting to say the least. The scene between Gus and Tong felt abrupt. There had been the whole push and pull between them for a while, but when they finally got to the point where they were a couple, they immediately jumped into bed. To me, it felt out of character and out of place. Jade and Mai's scenes were even more out of character. Considering how Jade is Jade and that he was a virgin, the level of sensuality he gave was not believable to me. There needed to be some awkwardness and fumbling and not straight to sex god. Also going to say that the two of them eating the rose was just weird. There were, however, a couple things that I did appreciate like the theme of consent that continued over from Bed Friend. Gus actually verbally giving consent to Tong was nice to see. I also really liked both Jade's and Mai's families and how supportive and loving they were. With Jade's family, the conversation they had where they acknowledged his feelings was very well done and I wish we'd had more scenes like that.

The characters were pretty much irredeemable trash.
-Jade in Bed Friend was cute, a bit quirky and eccentric, but not in a bad or obnoxious way. He was a good, loyal friend who seemed to have a solid head on his shoulders. But with this series, it's like they took his eccentricities and magnified them a thousand times to the point where it didn't even seem to be the same character. And that was a major downfall because Jade ended up feeling more like a caricature than a character. He was loud, awkward, and painfully self-conscious, not at all cute. Other than getting over his fear of rejection to pursue Mai, there was very little character development. There was a lot of potential for Jade and if they had retained his original character, I think the romance between him and Mai could have been quite sweet.
-Mai was a besotted puppy who truly was essentially perfect. He was not one of those characters who seems perfect on the outside, but as things progress his flaws are shown. No, he was portrayed as being the perfect employee, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect son, everything. He lacked any kind of dimension or interest. He revolved around Jade and that was it.
-Ueau and King returned to serve as love advisors for Jade and Mai. We didn't get to see a whole lot of them outside that role, but the few moments we did revolved around petty drama. The fact that Ueau couldn't have a simple conversation with another man without King getting his hackles up was absurd. And while Ueau was still pretty much himself, they neutered King. In Bed Friend, he was confident and sexy, and while he pretty much always caved to Ueau, he had a personality and was his own man. Middleman's Love saw him turned into a simpering puppy whose most frequent line was calling Ueau Teerak (darling). Sort of cute the first time or two, but it quickly became redundant. He as a name, King, consider using it. Also, be done with the jealousy. It's not cute.
-Gus and Tong were a cute secondary couple, but their back and forth and where they stood got confusing at times. It would seem like they were getting somewhere and then next scene Gus would be sulking for some inexplicable reason. They needed more screen time to really build on their relationship. Also found Tong's comment that Gus never annoyed him and that he was just foul-mouthed to be utter BS. You were acting very annoyed a time or two there, sir, being foul-mouthed had nothing to do with it.

I'm not going to hate on the actors because they had garbage to work with. The script was a disaster and should have been shredded then burnt. Watching the behind the scenes, you can see how much effort they put into it, but there was just no saving it. As much as I couldn't stand Jade, I will give Yim all the kudos because I can only imagine how hard portraying him was. Playing high energy characters like that is exhausting, but he remained consistent. Tutor, again, just had nothing to work with. I know he's a good actor, but there were so many close ups that I don't think he had a chance to really spread his wings. He wasn't wooden though which he easily could have been and there was expression in his eyes so I'll give him that.

The production needs to be fired. How they looked at any of this and thought, yeah, this looks great is beyond me. They let down their actors who deserved so much better and they let down the fans who had been looking forward to this. There were some awkward scene cuts as well as a few scene jumps that didn't help matters and made the story progression more confusing than it needed to be. The opening credits with the bobbleheads was not cute or funny, just bad. That was one of my first indications that this series was not going to be what I expected. And the music, particularly during the NSFW scenes was either forgettable or distracting. For the NSFW scenes, it didn't fit and I ended up muting eventually. I don't understand why they feel music is necessary for those kinds of scenes. If you have to have it, use instrumental pieces, it flows better.

To sum it up, Middleman's Love was a dumpster fire that should never have been made as is. The few cute or wholesome scenes are buried so deep, you have to sift through a mountain of garbage to find them. This is such a case of wasted potential and I hope Tutor, Yim and the other actors are given better opportunities to show their talents cause this was not it.

Read More

Middleman's Disgrace

It's hard to believe that Middleman's Love and Bed Friend are in any way connected. They're so completely different, it's almost jarring. While I wouldn't say that Middleman's Love was a series I was hotly anticipating, I was curious about it and looking forward to it to some degree. Bed Friend had a host of issues, but Jade was not one of them. I thought Yim's portrayal of him was a bit one note and there just wasn't a whole lot to the character, but with the focus on him and a proper storyline, there was potential. Unfortunately what we got was a complete disaster. Where Bed Friend tried to be darkly sexy with a healthy dose of trauma thrown in, Middleman's love went for a rom-com feel, heavy on the slapstick comedy. It doesn't work and it was almost physically painful to get through. If it was any more than the eight episodes it was, I would have bailed and I very nearly did within the first fifteen minutes, but clung on because of comments that it improved. And while there is some improvement in the last two episodes, it's far too little, too late to make a difference.

The story is a pretty generic office romance between an employee and his intern. It had the potential to be cute, but there's so much crap and unnecessary drama to bog it down that it's anything but. And sometimes that's redeemable if the characters are likeable, but they weren't. I guess there's the theme that there's someone for everyone, but it definitely could have been done better. I was put off almost immediately by the animation sequence that started things off. It was weird and unexpected and pointless. There were a couple more instances of that and they failed to add anything beneficial. They just continued to be weird and pointless. Equally off-putting was the abundance of comedic sound effects. Those were eventually toned down, but still very much overused. Given the title, I anticipated the fact that Jade always found himself in the middle would play a larger role than it did. In effect, it really played no role as it was mentioned a couple times, but that was about it. I think the drama could have been much more interesting if they had leaned into that concept and how always being in the middle really affected Jade. The NSFW scenes were...interesting to say the least. The scene between Gus and Tong felt abrupt. There had been the whole push and pull between them for a while, but when they finally got to the point where they were a couple, they immediately jumped into bed. To me, it felt out of character and out of place. Jade and Mai's scenes were even more out of character. Considering how Jade is Jade and that he was a virgin, the level of sensuality he gave was not believable to me. There needed to be some awkwardness and fumbling and not straight to sex god. Also going to say that the two of them eating the rose was just weird. There were, however, a couple things that I did appreciate like the theme of consent that continued over from Bed Friend. Gus actually verbally giving consent to Tong was nice to see. I also really liked both Jade's and Mai's families and how supportive and loving they were. With Jade's family, the conversation they had where they acknowledged his feelings was very well done and I wish we'd had more scenes like that.

The characters were pretty much irredeemable trash.
-Jade in Bed Friend was cute, a bit quirky and eccentric, but not in a bad or obnoxious way. He was a good, loyal friend who seemed to have a solid head on his shoulders. But with this series, it's like they took his eccentricities and magnified them a thousand times to the point where it didn't even seem to be the same character. And that was a major downfall because Jade ended up feeling more like a caricature than a character. He was loud, awkward, and painfully self-conscious, not at all cute. Other than getting over his fear of rejection to pursue Mai, there was very little character development. There was a lot of potential for Jade and if they had retained his original character, I think the romance between him and Mai could have been quite sweet.
-Mai was a besotted puppy who truly was essentially perfect. He was not one of those characters who seems perfect on the outside, but as things progress his flaws are shown. No, he was portrayed as being the perfect employee, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect son, everything. He lacked any kind of dimension or interest. He revolved around Jade and that was it.
-Ueau and King returned to serve as love advisors for Jade and Mai. We didn't get to see a whole lot of them outside that role, but the few moments we did revolved around petty drama. The fact that Ueau couldn't have a simple conversation with another man without King getting his hackles up was absurd. And while Ueau was still pretty much himself, they neutered King. In Bed Friend, he was confident and sexy, and while he pretty much always caved to Ueau, he had a personality and was his own man. Middleman's Love saw him turned into a simpering puppy whose most frequent line was calling Ueau Teerak (darling). Sort of cute the first time or two, but it quickly became redundant. He as a name, King, consider using it. Also, be done with the jealousy. It's not cute.
-Gus and Tong were a cute secondary couple, but their back and forth and where they stood got confusing at times. It would seem like they were getting somewhere and then next scene Gus would be sulking for some inexplicable reason. They needed more screen time to really build on their relationship. Also found Tong's comment that Gus never annoyed him and that he was just foul-mouthed to be utter BS. You were acting very annoyed a time or two there, sir, being foul-mouthed had nothing to do with it.

I'm not going to hate on the actors because they had garbage to work with. The script was a disaster and should have been shredded then burnt. Watching the behind the scenes, you can see how much effort they put into it, but there was just no saving it. As much as I couldn't stand Jade, I will give Yim all the kudos because I can only imagine how hard portraying him was. Playing high energy characters like that is exhausting, but he remained consistent. Tutor, again, just had nothing to work with. I know he's a good actor, but there were so many close ups that I don't think he had a chance to really spread his wings. He wasn't wooden though which he easily could have been and there was expression in his eyes so I'll give him that.

The production needs to be fired. How they looked at any of this and thought, yeah, this looks great is beyond me. They let down their actors who deserved so much better and they let down the fans who had been looking forward to this. There were a number of scene cuts that were very awkward and really killed the flow and tone as well as a few scene jumps that were equally awkward. In both cases, they made the story progression more confusing than it needed to be. The opening credits with the bobbleheads was not cute or funny. That was one of my first indications that this series was not going to be what I expected. And the music, particularly during the NSFW scenes was either forgettable or distracting. For the NSFW scenes, it didn't fit and I ended up muting eventually. I don't understand why they feel music is necessary for those kinds of scenes. If you have to have it, use instrumental pieces, it flows better.

To sum it up, Middleman's Love was a dumpster fire that should never have been made as is. The few cute or wholesome scenes are buried so deep, you have to sift through a mountain of garbage to find them. This is such a case of wasted potential and I hope Tutor, Yim and the other actors are given better opportunities to show their talents cause this was not it.

Read More

Even gods and immortals have growing pains

Based upon the novel “Hidden God” (which I never read), this is a sequel to Ancient Love Poetry (with different names for the drama, which is a little confusing). There is nothing particularly groundbreaking about this Xianxia drama, but I found it to be a warm, heartfelt and timeless story of the joys and pains of growing up - learning to love, learning to sacrifice and learning to treasure what you have.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about starting this drama initially. I’ve watched some Xianxia in the past but not as many in the past couple of years. The beginning episodes of this one reminded me of some of the earlier Harry Potter films - lackluster CGI, very young characters and a seemingly simplistic story. However, the strong performances from the cast drew me in, and by the midway point of the drama, you realize there is much more to this tale. While the story centers on Yuanqi and Fengyin’s love story, there are also many other moving story lines involving friendship and kinship. Interwoven are some themes about breaking down the barriers that divide us, cherishing all life, and not using one’s power or position to bully the weak.

This one could have used more post-production time to smooth out the visual effects and sound mix. More importantly, the script could have used another look over to flesh out the deeper thematic elements. However, I found this an engaging, wholesome watch during my winter holidays. There is something ultimately uplifting in this drama’s storytelling despite the many years of suffering experienced by the characters.

Lastly, this is my first time watching Wang Anyu as Gujin/Yuanqi, and his non-pretentious, boyish charm really fits the character well. He and Zhao Lusi make an endearing on-screen couple that brings you both joy and tears. If only there was more of them at the end - maybe another drama? Until then, this is a great one to binge, re-watch and for me sits well with my all-time favorite Xianxia dramas such as Eternal Love (Peach Blossoms), Ashes of Love, Love and Destiny, Love and Redemption and yes, Ancient Love Poetry.

Read More

A very average and short romance drama.

“Since I Met U” is an easy-to-watch romance drama. The plot is simple. It’s not 100% cute and fluffy because there’s a backstory of family trauma and mental illness. But the drama really doesn’t go into details in exploring that. Everything is very surface-level. A cute romance without any angst, misunderstanding or evil ex’s.

The production quality is average. Though the desserts are delicious-looking and ML’s Sol Bakery looks modern and welcoming, you can also see where they skim on money. FL has an awful wardrobe (why is she wearing old lady PJs?), the car riding scenes look pretty ‘green-screened’, and they keep on re-suing the same few filming locations. I personally do not like the dubbing, nor the English theme song that plays pretty loudly and repeatedly.

The acting is decent and not awful, not great. ML is cute and I’m watching this drama for him because I liked him in “Story of Kunning Palace”. We also have the cute kid from “Unforgettable Love” and he’s as cute as ever. There are a few good-looking guys at the bakery and am I sensing a closeted gay couple? I got some vibes from one of the guys. The secondary romance is OK but the tertiary romance is annoying.

Overall, this is a very average drama if you want something simple and short. I was in the mood for a romance drama for stress relief, and this fits the bill.


Completed: 1/5/2024 - Review #390

Read More

I was INSTANTLY hooked

I didn't watch BL dramas for two years and was looking for a BL for days before I found Triage and got hooked immediatly. Amazing production. Great music. Good plot. Amazing cast and great chemistry between the lead actors. Triage has everything. If you're looking for a mystery, time loop romance with lots of suspense THIS IS IT girl. I started episode one of this series and could not stop watching. When I saw that the lead couple was Tee and Tae I was sooo beyond thrilled (and kinda nostalgic too, lol!). Everyone could sense the potential of these guys when they were starring in 2 moons and what a pleasant surprise to see them act as a main couple on such a high-quality production!

You will 100% enjoy watching Triage! xxx

Read More

How a 3 min ending can change your opinion!!!

Honestly saying I never write reviews but this series made me want to write one.
Firstly starting with how I liked this drama
It was 10/10 until the end of the episode even after I saw all the spoilers and people getting disappointed with the drama at the end of the episode I do think that it's not the whole episode but just few minutes which can change your opinion about the whole drama.
Until last few minutes of the series I felt like why??? That just doesn't make sense!!! The game restarts? But all of this question can get its answer if there is a season 2
I personally would like to watch Season 2 with a different game but the plot won't change ik that
anyways I feel like everyone has different opinions and that's why almost all the reviews say that it's disappointing but
well I would like to say give it a go
you won't know it until you watch it

Read More