Reviews

Very funny script, excellent comedic acting with impeccable timing and a serious message.

School meals are not just school meals.
Eating is more than consuming nutrients.
Giving children food that will be good for them tomorrow, might not be the right thing for them today.

I love how teacher Amarida is so over-enthusiastic about his life passion -- and how nobody in the school bats an eye at his antics.
Ichihara Hayato's teacher is almost childlike in his joy about school meals. He dances in his seat in anticipation; his face, no, his *body* shows every emotion he feels while he's eating. Some call Ichihara's acting style pejoratively "over-acting" -- and if you do too, then you probably won't like this film much.

Like all of the great Japanese comedies, the film has an underlying message or two.
For the message Ichihara Hayato sees: "He loves what he loves and celebrates life no matter how much he's laughed at." (https://youtu.be/aOJa8KjDSA4?)

Maybe this film speaks to me more than to other people because I have been working in education in some way or other for the last 20 years, and I hear things that other people wouldn't. I hear a lot about what education should be.
If we take the "school meal" as the metaphor for the education we give to our children -- it's easy to see the parallels, right? -- they say "food for thought" in English and in German they say "das muss ich erst verdauen", if I get a hard/heavy piece of information, I'll have to digest it first.
We give the children "meals" that we think will be beneficial for them later -- which ingredients we choose, how we prepare them and how we present the meal, we should not only think of tomorrow's benefits but also if the children will even eat the meals joyfully. Why are the children who enter schools eager to learn at six years old -- why are most of those children apathetic to learning some years later? It's because we give children school "meals" that might be nutritious but don't give children joy when they consume them.

There was also a very poignant scene where a student tries to voice his opinion on the school meals in front of a whole room of powerful adults -- and not only do they not listen to him, they also laugh at him. The adult who are responsible for the children's well-being are not interested if the children are really happy. So, there's also this layer of meaning I can find in this comedy.

In conclusion, "School Meals Time Graduation" is what Japanese comedy can be when it's at its best -- very funny script, excellent comedic acting (if you like this style) with impeccable timing and a serious message.

Read More

Never Have I Ever Imagine A Parasocial Relationship with My Idol

On the contrary by public prediction, I only cried once at the first episode because it reminds me so much about the moment we lost our dearest Jonghyun, RIP, we miss you so much...

But boy do I giggled and slouching down at my seat in the office because I was...FLABBERGASTED? SHOOKED? for the rest of the show? HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

You really cannot hate Im Sol (though I feel like she fainted too much and does questionable choices) her selflessness and her natural adorableness will make you fall in love, as quickly as Ryu Sunjae does probably. While Ryu Sunjae is potrayed as a cool and very unbothered king at first, once we figured he is a big fat loser it is hard not wanting to protect him at all cost (yes, he is 6 feet tall, what about it!)

Told about the Idol!Sunjae and Fan!Sol who met after a concert before a tragedy where Sunjae passed away falling down from his apartment. Sol wishes she can protect him from harm before finally traveling in time back to realize that they were both in the same timeline of life as classmates and Sol needs to convince the stranger Sunjae that in his future he has some kind of choices to avoid his death.

NO but when they traveled back in time and turns out to be classmates I was...prolifically GIGGLING, because never have I ever written me as a fan and my idol together in the parallel universe as someone who shares the same timeline with me like THAT! Though the context is very different, to imagine that Sol was very starstrucked to realize that her idol actually only her neighbour next door to see him just as Sunjae, the guy she likes has hit me like a freaking ROCK ON MY TOES. I adore the slow revelations at epilogue how we found out that Sunjae has his own history of feelings towards Sol and the first plot we have is actually not one-sided? At how Sol can possibly has different future because his feelings towards Taesung is also always reciprocated too in each timeline? WHOA, I AM.

What is lacking though is how time-travelling system is exclusive only to Sol that we as an audience is carried at Sol's perpective only and have limited creativity about how we wish or re-write different plot of the scenes. And, what vexed me too is the villain character who wants to harm Sol. It is unknown his motives so it seems really a nuisance to figure out how he still chases Sol and Sunjae through his adulthood too. If we are left with a motives or interlinked with their relationship, it probably makes even more sense that Sol and Sunjae will travel in time to fix that too.

While the story is focusing on how Sol and Sunjae starting different role of relationship in different timeline and roles, my liking to this story is that it also digs the matter of friendship and family. Not that just by time traveling we can see different choices of how they build friendships, it is also shows how Sol wishes to treat her mother and brother results to many kinder outputs and to Sunjae to understand his father a little bit more. The warmth this drama cooks is so comforting. The comedy of the friendships shared between Hyunju and Inhyuk with them is also laugh-worthy.

In my opinion, as a picky romance eater, I take a good small bites of this drama and ended up finishing a jar. It is a drama worth to watch by the end of the day. Without further more looking to analyze the drama though, I can enjoy most of the bits where they only stare at each other while I stare back at the wall in front of me wishing this happened to me instead (no, I don't want the nuisances Sol has ever occurred but...save me..180cm tall man...loser man....down bad for me first encounter man...)

Read More

NOT EVERY HIERARCHY IS EASILY TOPPLED.

I must confess that when I started watching the drama, I saw the terrible rating of the last episode and thought it had been awful, but I found it consistent with how it began and how we got to this point. I noticed several insights for a second season. Some considerations:

• Finally, Jae-I realised how toxic, obsessive, and abusive her relationship with Ri An was. It was a relief for her to understand that the two of them together, directly or indirectly, brought misery to everyone around them.
• I noticed an interesting insight left by the writer. Did you notice she rode a bicycle, stopped to sit on the bench near the street stall, and bought that snack with Ri An? Clearly, it was her subconscious showing that the moment she was happiest in all the hell she went through was with Kang Ha. In other words…
• I firmly believe that, in the hypothetical second season, the writer will develop the relationship between Jae-I and Kang Ha.
• I also believe that Kang’s smile and the exchange of messages were not him sending messages to Ri An. I think we will have someone violent who wants something. Kang Ha showed throughout the drama that he was a naive and kind young man.

That said, it is a drama with mediocre performances, but I liked the actress who played He Ra and found the actor who played U-Jin stunningly handsome.

Read More

Cliche but fun

Typical romcom dramas in general with all their clichés are surprisingly good and can make you feel at home following them. Starting from the comedy which happens to suit your taste, the romance is also a healthy romance, not a toxic one. Apart from that, this drama also has a story that seems simple but has a lot of meaning, from romance, family issues, to self-love. All the cast members who appear can really carry their characters very well, especially the two main characters who seem to feel like they are playing themselves rather than acting. One of the hidden gem dramas this year? Who knows...

Read More

Mafia, Rise Your Head

First of all, please go through the trigger warnings because they are not lying! This series contains a lot of violence and triggering self-harm activities...the minor warning probably so many curses going around (likely because they are high schoolers)

Told about the story of main character Yoonseo who went on school trip with his classmates to a retreat center only to find the time froze and they are forced to play a real-life-situation mafia game. To survive all of the classmates have to work together to solve the game and fight the host. However, it is not easy because they all have secrets behind their backs.

I love the series structure. Set in only 12 episodes and each one only have 30 minutes long duration really does it for me to binge. However, unfortunately it has made the ending seems rushed and as 'it is what it is.'

The strong point of this drama is how they make high schoolers as high schoolers, naive and also easy to drive which eventually amuses the host and we all get so GRRR COME ON at them. It is also later revealed that they do have more characters than the assigned outlook and have more personalities once we get through the episodes.

Yoonseo as the main character who reads a lot of mystery book is pictured as the smart one who is also very lucky and probably calmer than the others because she already has pictures about what was going on. Though it is later displayed that her personality reflects her skill, I wish it is shown more that she is not some kind of helpless girl. I am digging more backstories about her and Junhee that unfortunately is not shown in the drama. I like many characters like Nahee who even though seems meek but actually stands smart to her role as the police. Oh and don't get me started with Somi who is very ANNOYING and staying true to that until the end, haha. I think there are a lot of emotions and sentimental shown in the story and I get that we cannot get a lot of relationships shown because of the volume of the classmates.

However, upon the ending, my guess was a missed that it is Seeun a.k.a. Jungwon who programmed the game for revenge, it is her parents that makes this story I think goes to the offside story. I started to think the technicality at how such adults do that to kids and not to mentioned that they literally does crime back to them. Though I do understand the anger that no one has spoken up about the incident has truly angered them. The ending being them stucked again in loop with only Yoonseo remembered, I think it is a torture...though it seems like the perfect ending, I wish for different ending which somehow they all need to repent during the game, that the purpose is somehow to make them realized something they have done wrong rather than torturing them without the outcome they searched for. At this point, I think the parents just bullying the students back rather than finding the right closure.

Afterall, I rate this story 8 for its engaging delivery and makes me binged for a day! It is thrilling and cruel, I cannot watch it while eating snflksdfnksldf

Read More

Funny, Action-Packed, and Fun-Filled

I want more, more, MORE! Honestly, this could’ve been so so million times amazing if this were a series but nevertheless, the movie is standalone good. The direction and execution is good. Acting is topnotch. I love the relationships and interactions of the characters. The world-building is definable. The story knows what it is and what it WANTS. If the direction is supposed to be comedic and fun, then it is served right. If the direction is supposed to be serious and dramatic, then it also served with proper justice. This is the perfect movie to watch to let your brain loose and enjoy a heart-warming antic-filled portrayal of youth, action, and life.

Read More

A Sweet, Endearing Romcom

A laughter riot indeed, it is so damn silly you can’t help but giggle in excitement!

JTBC’s new Wednesday-Thursday offering “My Sweet Mobster” might seem lame but it isn’t. I wasn’t acquainted with either of the main leads, but they still managed to win my hearts in the first two episodes that premiered this week. Starring Uhm Tae Goo, Uhm Tae Goo, Kwon Yool, “My Sweet Mobster” is hilarious romcom between a reformed gangster and an avid kids content creator. What are the odds that these two meet? None, and yet they meet in funny situations, end up antagonizing each other before slowly love blossoms between them. Another interesting feature about this show is the galore of handsome men; like they don’t even look like gangster (especially Kim Hyun Jin, I spend far too much time swooning over his good looks). Let’s talk about the pilot episodes in detail!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/06/14/my-sweet-mobster-first-impressions/#more-933

Read More

Simple youth drama done right

The story was neither super unique nor groundbreaking, it’s just a simple making friends (and love interests) and the complexities of relationships around them. What I liked about this drama is the existence of “layers” and “depth” which can be observed from the subtle interactions, the storyline’s twists and turns, the dialogues of the characters’ and the depth portrayed from how the plot goes. Namgoong’s character is one of the most interesting and well-written characters I’ve ever seen in a youth drama. He is someone who KNOWS the deal, and STIRS the pot because he knows something is going to be brewing. He makes his efforts as a friend, and he also knows his place/role in their circle. Salute to you man!

Read More

so fun and stupid and lovely

I love this show. It's very entertaining and the characters are extremely well thought out and developed from the jump which is nice.

I am a Latte appreciater bc he reminds me the most of friends of mine and also shows the most heart in the world.

Also one of those shows where I like the dynamics so much that I don't have a definitive end game couple in mind, and that's rare in bls.

Probably my favourite parts are how sitcomy it is which makes the characters very lovable but not stuck into one role and how sex positive it is.

This feels very unique and fresh in the thai bl space and I absolutely love this take on things. Especially the very natural weaving of different sexualities and crushes without unnecessary angst about it. This is what queer shows should be (but I still love the classic bls for what they are as well).

Lastly, peak's endless bi-panic is the highlight for me.

Read More

Truly wholesome and inspirational work of art

If you’re looking for themes of hope, inspiration, and harsh realistic lessons of life, then this drama is for you. The music resonates with me so much that a lot of diverse emotions start to combine and create chemistry in my brain, heart, and soul while watching the drama. Ran Joo’s writing is the BEST for me as she is portrayed VERY realistically and relatably as she depicts true human nature where there are times that we have contrasting choices and priorities in life. This drama is the perfect portrayal of “When life gives you lemons, make a lemon juice.”

Read More

Life, Youth, Living

Friendship, youth, and school dramas are my cup of tea. The story’s plot and flow is just the right pace and direction but I would want to see more of the two male main leads’ friendship/bromance than the romance part of Yeo Jun and So Bin, so there are times that I skip the couple’s romance parts because their chemistry isn’t my cup of tea. Nevertheless, the story is realistic and tackles real life issues that relates with youth, school, adulting, harsh truths of life, and the nature of friendship. (Park Ji Hoon’s acting is wayyyy too good he deserves more lead roles, his back must be heavy after carrying the heavy load of acting in this drama)

Read More

Solid romantic comedy to watch for relationship vibes

TLDR: Fun romcom with some good chemistry and hilarious moments. If you read the manhwa and liked it this is definitely worth giving a watch

Disclaimer: average for me is a 5 so anything above that is pretty good to excellent and everything below that is pretty bad to horrendous. I am not into film making so I can name a total of 0 techniques that go into making a good TV show. I can only comment on how much I enjoyed certain aspects of a show relative to ones I've watched in the past

Overall: I did not think I would like this as much as I did. I read the manhwa and loved it so my expectations were already pretty high. I didn't pick it up initially because I saw the initial date scene in a trailer a few years ago and thought it was kinda cringe, but dang the characters grew on me. They serve as a solid backbone to an otherwise simplistic story that made me enjoy almost every moment of screen time.

Story: Nothing super special about the story. Pretty much your run of the mill CEO/employee contract relationship with misunderstandings thrown in. However, it does everything well with good pacing and very little excess fluff. It kept me interested all the way through despite already knowing what happens.

This is kind of a big thing but you do have to buy into the plot in order to enjoy the show otherwise you're just gonna be thinking wtf most of the time. Light spoilers but you just have to accept that the FL looks completely different to every other character in the show when she is in her Geum Hi persona (in the manhwa she had a pink wig so it made more sense). She just stops hiding her face at some point and it didn't make a difference so they kind of just gave up on the concept but its something I was willing to overlook.

I think it did suffer from the random breakup 2/3 slump thing that a lot of dramas have (right after the leads get together there is always some random BS that pops up that forces them to break up again even though they both know they like each other so we can get the dramatic climax 2 episodes before the show ends). It wasn't super bad in this show but it was still there for both couples and kind of nonsensical. For the main couple it was the classic parents don't approve/class thing and for the second couple it was the classic miscommunication so pretty standard cliches that I wish would go away. Some of the cuts are also funny/disjointed af depending on if you're a glass half full or glass half empty kinda person, slight spoiler but how does she end up in the car while running on the cross walk... I still cannot figure that out.

Characters/acting: Solid performances across the board. I liked the FL a lot more than I thought I would seeing some of her scenes out of context. She really grew on me and gave a charm to the role that made me like the drama more than the manhwa by the end. She could shift fluidly between the silly over the top drunk girl and heartwarming serious business girl all while still being the same character. The character was portrayed well and I liked the adaptation they chose to go with. The ML was good in the role and I was a huge fan of the character. Most CEOs in these kinds of dramas are objectively not good people but viewers can turn a blind eye because they're hot af and are given enough emotional/backstory scenes to stay invested. But I'm happy to say the ML here is actually a decent human being. He makes mistakes but apologizes and has a solid moral compass that he sticks to throughout the show. Their chemistry is really good and I loved their dynamic throughout the show even when they weren't a couple.

The second couple was probably my favorite relationship wise. They sort of serve as the proxy to give the audience some bf/gf screen time while the main couple is still working things out and I was all for it. Aside from their aforementioned random misunderstanding they were solid throughout the show and had fantastic chemistry. I loved the second FL both in her relationship and in her friendship with Ha Ri. Their back and forth was amazing to watch and the drunk scene is something to behold. The second ML was super charming and bounced off well with the other 3 main characters.

Side characters: All were pretty solid. Standout for me was drunk Ms. Kim. I low key wish they made her an alcoholic because for whatever reason that actress made every line hilarious when her character was wasted. I'm actually laughing just thinking about it lol. The rest of the development team was great. They all played their roles well as the comedic peanut gallery watching everything unfold alongside the viewers.

I'm sort of conflicted on Min Woo because he was way more ick than I remember him being in the manhwa and pretty much never gave off any impression of being a viable number 2 to the love triangle that may or may not have existed. He was just not a good person and I'm not sure if that's how it was in the manhwa or if they just wanted to take the character in that direction but I do wish the character was a little more likeable. (Nothing against the actor or anything as I'm sure the decision wasn't his and he did a good job of bringing the character to life seeing how much he turned me off, just wish he was given a more likeable character to channel his talent through)

The grandfather had a tough role to play as the over the top supportive yet stern father figure and I thought the actor did well. He was less comedic than in the manhwa but overall his character worked fine. I thought the mom was a little over the top at times but other than that not too much to say about the rest of the side characters.

Music: Not much to say, I watch at 1.5x speed mostly so can't really comment.

Rewatch: I can see myself revisiting this but wouldn't be at the top of the list. I will be rewatching drunk Ms. Kim tho lol

Read More

Emotionally grappling

The intricate relationships between the characters, the raw emotions portrayed, and the intense conflicts they face make the story captivating and thought-provoking. The way the characters navigate through their challenges, support each other through thick and thin, and ultimately find strength in their unity is truly inspiring. The story delves deep into the complexities of human nature, the power of friendship, and the resilience needed to overcome life's obstacles. It is a rollercoaster of emotions that will keep you on the edge of your seat, eagerly anticipating what will happen next.

Read More