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Well, that was very... Japanese. And as much as I looked forward to this movie - I own the manga in its entirety and I watched and loved the anime - I simply didn't like it. Why?For one, the music was very jarring. Terribly loud, electronic, very... 2001: A Space Odyssey like with the whole droning thing etc. After a while, it made my eye twitch. I really hated it.
Also, I felt like I was actually watching a theater performance. It was mostly filmed in a studio, among very obvious set pieces - the shop didn't even look like a real place - and the performances themselves were so overwrought, especially by the villains. It felt very "even the viewers in the last row need to see I'm batcrap insane, watch me cackle." Yeah.
The only saving grace? Watanuki and Doumeki. This kind of a relationship was what I wanted from the manga and the anime and the movie actually delivered. So brownie points for that.
But... yeah. This? Not my cuppa. Maybe someone who is really into artsy stuff will love it but not me.
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A great little drama literally murdered by horrible subs by MangoTV.This is Mr. & Mrs. Smith wuxia style. They adore each other, bless their little hearts, but he's the palace's secret agent and she's a gun for hire - so to speak. And they don't know that about each other.
Goodness gracious, the shenanigans! Not only is the writing truly hilarious, the actors play their parts perfectly which adds to the overall funny - and yet loving - tone of this web drama.
It's too bad that Mango butchered the subs so badly. Because of it, the overall plot with the palace intrigue and whatnot is literally lost in translation. I kinda doubt that the visiting... official or whatever was really a "proton" 🤨
Also, the ending song is truly lovely.
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Oh, this was wonderful. Short and sweet and, well, wonderful. A tale of two best friends since childhood who fall in love. And pretty much nothing changes. It's a tale about how amazing it is when your partner is also your best friend.I loved all the pairings in this drama, the main one, Sakura & Yuma, but also the het pairings, their classmates' and the teachers'! Gosh, I loved the teachers, they were just the right amount of quirky without feeling like clowns. And it was so touching how much affection they had for their students - and vice versa! The students poked fun at them, sure, but they honestly liked and admired their teachers.
My main draw, of course, were Sakura and Yuma, their relationship, their personalities, how perfectly they clicked, how well they knew each other, how easily they slipped into being a couple. I think my favorite moment was Yuma's "I will always cherish you" campfire confession. That was just... perfect.
Overall, short and sweet and funny, perfect for curing blue moods.
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The cases in this drama honestly surprised me. They never turned out the way I expected them to. Totono-kun's observation skills were simply awesome, not just regarding the cases but also people, simply people. He might've been a loner but he knew about people. I loved that, yeah, he was annoying to some but when he started talking to the culprits or to the victims, he truly got through to them and made them see reality as was, not just the way they thought it was.Suda Masaki was fantastic as Totono-kun. I saw him in a few things already but he has never really caught my interest, I was always all, "Yeah, and so-n-so was played by Suda Masaki. Alright." But here, he was truly marvelous. The way his Totono-kun was a loner, a bit weird but not in a bad way, a walking encyclopedia but also someone who just walked in the rain, singing a song about potatoes, who was all excited about a bento and an impressionist exhibition, who never, ever wanted to get involved in the cop's cases and yet, when push came to shove, he always helped... Yeah, that was cute.
Also, Totono-kun & Garo! Wow. I'm so curious where that is headed and I hope that there will be S2 that will explore their relationship!
Overall, a great series. Funny but also so intriguing!
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This drama was awesome. Sure, it was silly - it is a show for kids, after all - but the story it told, its characters and the relationships between them, that was all so fascinating!What I loved best about the whole thing was that they were pirates! Not high school kids, not university students but space pirates! And they were adults and they all went through terrible, horrible traumas in the past and they had absolutely no one but each other. That turned the found family trope up to eleven! All they had were each other and the galeon and Tori the mechanical not-bird. They lived together and they ate together, they planet-hopped together and they went on space adventures together... and they fought the Evil Empire(TM) together.
Out of the whole crew, I loved Captain Marvelous and Joe Gibken and their unbreakable bond best, of course. The way they always gravitated towards each other, the way they trusted each other, the way they kept each other safe... That was a thing of beauty!
I loved this drama. I honestly did. From the story it told, over the catchy, catchy tunes - Let's Go! Let's Gokaiger! - to the actors. It made me very, very happy. And very, very mushy when it ended.
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I cried. I cried so hard that I actually felt sick. I can't remember this ever happening to me. This was a wonderful movie but so incredibly sad that just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.Fukushi Sota was amazing as Satoru - and Satoru was an amazing character. Inspiring in his inherent sweetness and kindness. The way he touched the lives of everyone around him, the way he brought the best out of people! Roles like that suit Fukushi Sota so well because he truly has the sweetest smile, he has the ability to make his eyes laugh!
The movie also featured the late Takeuchi Yuko as Satoru's aunt, Noriko, which added to the sadness of it. Because she was a great actress and her death two years back made the world a little... less.
Takahata Mitsuki as the voice of Nana the Cat was perfectly chosen, too. Nana's petulance but also his - yes, the cat was a male, though Takahata Mitsuki is female - love for Satoru, the way Nana adored his owner and stayed with him till Satoru's very last moments.
A beautiful, but also a terribly sad movie. Don't watch it if you feel depressed or down. But do watch it if you feel like having a good cry. The movie is worth your tears.
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Kamen Rider Ă— Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen
3 people found this review helpful
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Kamen Riders vs. Super Sentai. And really, truly, honestly a fantastic movie! Not only did it showcase great battle moments - like between Fourze & Meteor (Kamen Rider Fourze) - it also featured storylines between Tsukasa & Kaitou (Kamen Rider Decade) and Marvelous & Joe (Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger) that carried the whole thing. It also introduced me to so many teams that I didn't know but now I want to!My favorite thing was, of course, the storyline that focused on Joe and his bond with Marvelous. Joe's grief, his trust in Marvelous and then his despair when Marvelous betrayed that trust, that was so... wow. I did miss some fallout of that, true, but this is a kids movie, after all.
My favorite moments?
When Tsukasa's henchmen almost killed Joe and Marvelous stepped in at the very last moment and saved his life. It didn't exactly fall into Marvelous' plan but he couldn't just let them kill Joe, after all.
When Marvelous betrayed Joe and Kaitou - Kaitou!!! - stepped in and protected Joe from him. Kaitou's "He's been hurt enough!" made me squee on the inside!
And then, when Kaitou was leaving and his last goodbye was for Joe - and Joe returned it. That was simply perfect, the cherry on top.
Also, the combined robot creature? It was actually scary O.O Wow!
This movie made me very, very happy!
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Finally a BL drama that didn't make me feel like I was ingesting empty calories while watching it. Because that's the overwhelming feeling I've had lately, that all BL dramas as of late were empty and without any substance, all stuffings and no real core.But after finishing this one, I honestly didn't feel like I wasted my time, I felt like I watched actual art. The cinematography, the music and its timing, the performances... everything simply clicked.
That said, it doesn't mean I found the characters actually likable. Not at all. Not at first, at least. It took me a while to get them - and to get into them. But that was good so! It meant that they were flawed and human, multilayered and multifaceted.
The story was mostly told from Hira's POV but when we were finally allowed to see all that happened from Kiyoi's side too... wow. It was the perfect example of an "unreliable narrator" storytelling. Or, when you get to see everything from just one person's POV, much gets lost. Wonderful!
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What a cute little drama (only 8 eps)! I loved both the pairings, SunSky and PitchBank, though I do wish that PitchBank had been a little more developed, given more screen time. Both couples were so cute, though, that I wanted to pinch their cheeks!I was actually surprised by how hard I fell for PitchBank, especially considering how Pitch was introduced. But he turned out to be so funny and sweet and loyal. The way he accepted that Bank and Sky came as a package deal which meant they would all get involved in Sky’s father shady business on a regular basis, was just marvelous. Also, he and Bank were pretty much the polar opposite of SunSky, with them, there was no drama, no big upheavals, just some confusion and miscommunication. But they clicked so fast and slipped into a stable relationship so smoothly…
With SunSky, I was mostly enamored with how Sun blossomed when he finally allowed himself to want Sky and love him as a lover, not just as a servant his master. He became so relaxed and smiley and overall simply happy that it was a marvel to watch. Wonderful.
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I really liked this drama - until the finale, that is.Like I stated before, I don't like coffee shop romances, they're all fine and good in fanfics but I need some real conflict, something that in a way carries the fluff, and though it looked like this drama would have that, it was just a red herring, that was all. I kinda felt cheated.
Also, that the people closest to Yu Zhen manipulated him and made him think he was being left behind again? Made him chase after his love even though the last time he did that - chased after a man - he got in an accident and almost died? That rankled. Instead of Shi Lei telling Yu Zhen, "Look, I get that you're really bad at communicating for understandable reasons, so sit down, shut up and let me do the talking!" they played this... game on Yu Zhen? Uh.
I'm curious about the special next week and about where Yi Zi Tong's story is headed, true, but I would lie if I said that the conclusion of BLIHID didn't disappoint me.
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It’s about a web toon artist who decides to make a BL web comic about archers and so she joins a boys’ archery club as their manager for inspiration. But then she actually gets to really like the boys and she helps them become really good and win a competition. And she also realizes that two of the boys might actually have feelings for each other so she decides to help out… I watched it for Seo Ji Hoon who plays Yoo Ji Wan, the sweetest boy there is. Yoo Ji Wan and Joo Seung Joon are childhood friends and they are very close. But when Yoo Ji Wan gets hurt during a training in the country - he is bitten by a snake during a night training - Joo Seung Joon gets absolutely terrified and he realizes he can’t stop thinking about his best friend. Enter gay panic of truly epic proportions.
I’ve seen many people accuse this drama of queerbaiting. Sure, the lead girl’s fantasies are played up for the lulz, but, IMHO, there’s no actual queerbaiting in the story itself. Because Joo Seung Joon’s feelings for Yoo Ji Wan are 100% not just friendly. And the drama doesn’t debunk it, it doesn’t go “but NO HOMO,” it’s simply left unresolved, open-ended, but with them closer than ever at the end. And that’s not queerbaiting.
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Personally, I didn’t really feel the romance but everything else about this drama was just about perfect. The characters, all of them, the friendships, the mother-son relationship… Thun had, hands down, one of the best coming out episode I have ever seen. Yes, pretty much a whole ep was dedicated to him coming out as gay to his friends and the girl who liked him and his mom, and it was one of the most wonderful, most wonderfully acted thing I’ve seen.I adored Thun’s friends, how much they all genuinely loved Thun, how worried they were about him keeping secrets from them, how they were willing to face his wrath to get him the help they thought he needed when they convinced themselves he was on drugs, the way they went above and beyond casual friendship “duties” for him.
And his mom, his mom deserved a Mother of the Year™ award. She was so incredible, so fantastic. No wonder Thun grew up to be such an amazing boy with a mom like her. They pushed all my parent-kid buttons with their love and care for each other. That was beautiful.
Also, the mystery was so intriguing! I genuinely didn’t think that it would turn out to be that particular person, the murderer. Huh. I adored the whole reveal scene, the way Thun kept pushing and pushing and pushing to get to the truth because he promised Met to figure out what happened to him!
The ending felt a bit like a cope-out, TBH. I think I would’ve preferred if Met reincarnated and went looking for Thun as an adult. But that’s just me…
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Lee Junho’s Lee Kang Doo is one of the most amazing heroes I’ve seen to date. To watch how his integrity and brash honesty changes those around him and all that without him even realizing how important he’s become and to how many people is a thing to behold.
The acting is simply phenomenal and I really hope that Lee Junho sticks with it. Not that he isn’t a great singer but I think he really found himself as an actor and I can’t wait what else he has in store because so far, all his series have been big hits for me, personally.
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It’s no secret that I watched it mainly and mostly for New Thitipoom playing Teedet and I really loved his character. I loved his love for plants and small animals, his almost terminal foot-in-mouth-is and his determination not to suffer any BS from anyone. Also during Teedet’s monologues, Newwiee’s voice was so wonderfully warm and soft.
It was cute - but too short!!! - and you could see how much the actors enjoyed playing their parts and acting together because, though they’re the original pillars of GMMTV, some of them never had the chance to act together. I guess this was their last stab at playing students for GMMTV before they jump to adult roles. And no wonder, considering that some of them will be 30 next year. I hope we’ll see them in something else together in the future but if not, then this drama was a wonderful gift to the fans of the three Royal Couples.
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The Most Wonderful Bromance
This was a wonderful series. The last time I was so caught up in watching a Cdrama was during The Untamed craze. Tang Fan, Sui Zhou and Wang Zhi, these three and their odd friendship made the drama for me. For once, though, it wasn’t just the characters but the story itself, the cases, the plot what caught my interest because the storytelling was wonderfully smart and woven together with meticulous care which at the very end bore fruit when the various people our heroes met during their previous cases came together to help them save the emperor and the whole Ming Dynasty.So yes, the story was so good and the characters - the found family trope - were the sweet cherry on top. This drama was based on a BL book but because of censorship, the love story between Tang Fan and Sui Zhou couldn’t be portrayed as such. Instead we got the most wonderful bromance with deep devotion and much care - but mainly, no shoehorned love interest for either. So, just like in The Untamed, the leads might not have kissed on-screen but their love for one another was undeniable. And the characters were portrayed just wonderfully by the actors! Kudos for the excellent job they did!
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