Blkittykat

Good story, bad writing

That headline pretty much sums up everything about Kidnap by the way, the sheer amount of potential a story like this had was ruined by the horrible writing. I'm assuming it's based on a novel and I'm a little scared to find out if the source material itself was this bad, or if it was just somehow messed up beyond recognition while being made into a script.

The weirdest part is how fragmented the story was, it was like watching three or four completely different shows, that was mashed up into one series haphazardly. There was romance and comedy, mystery and thrill, and in the same vein but not really, trauma, moving on and moving ahead. Even just saying it this way would make it seem like these genres won't work great, all together, but let me save you some time, it didn't work.

The genre shifted multiple times in an episode, there was comedy at moments where it made no sense and the whole kidnap plot was the weakest thing in a series called Kidnap. The audience is also left to connect the dots for most scenes, it's never outright obvious how the characters and the story got there, but you think hard enough and you can make the connections. But sometimes you just have to say eh- I guess it just happened that way, so let's move on.

I was genuinely shocked with the amount of potential this story had, I mean, written well and this could have been a masterpiece. But writing it in a way where you introduce different conflicts every episode only for them to be solved (or mostly solved) by the end of that episode, whereas you have the main conflict show up when it's convenient for you.. that's not how you keep the audience invested.

Most of my dissapointment is with the writing though, because despite that weak plot, the chemistry was actually decent, I did find myself invested in the characters to an extent and the acting was pretty good. Min and Q had this great loser in love energy between them and despite the weird way in which I think they started out (it was incredibly fast), they did have that soulmates thing going for them, but the story.. what could have been.

Technically, I should rate this lower than I actually did, but I have a soft spot for Ohm, he was amazing in this. And Title. He was amazing as James, James gets a 10/10. But even with them, I can't give this a high score, a kind of high score I genuinely thought I would be giving this before I started, and even a bit after I started.

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Komorebi

A profound and introspective look on everyday life.

This may have been a slow burn but it never bored me even once. There's a sort of satisfaction in the mundane, repetition may not be exciting, but finding the happiness in the smallest of things, the sun that shines through the leaves, birds chirping early in the morning, a child waving to you. There's even happiness in the chaos, a move away from the schedule can bring about cathartic and moving experiences.

The entire movie may have been the story of a week or two, or that of months, but the essence and emotions were just the same. With a minimal amount of dialogues, the acting and depth created a great balance.

“Komorebi - is the Japanese word for the shimmering of light and shadows that is created by leaves swaying in the wind. It only exists once, at that moment.”
The final frame of the film, and an apt description of the film itself.

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I Can Hear Your Voice

This is a gem of a show filled contemplations, heartwarming moments and one of the more genuine stories out there. The nuanced and deep representation of disabilities, friendship and bonds really shone in a story driven by it's characters.

The growth displayed by the leads was the strongest suit they played, Kohei and Taichi were incredible characters as they were, and watching them grow as they grew closer was extremely well done. Kohei came out of his shell, interacting with the world on his terms, and as he did, Taichi did as well, trying to understand what Kohei is going through and familiarise himself, both with Kohei and his disability.

Another aspect I think they handled well was the representation of disabilities. There wasn't a one fits all mold in place here, it was ensured that the dilemmas and experiences of those hard of hearing were shown to be different for each person.

The romance didn't quite pan out the way I thought it would, while it was clear that Kohei and Taichi had an extremely deep and amazing bond, it was hard to visualise this as a romance when the focus shifted onto another character who was neither Kohei nor Taichi.

I did think the introduction of Maya as a supporting character was a double edged sword, she added nothing to the plot, because with or without her, the essence of the story would've remained the same. Her rude, and sometimes demeaning attitude didn't really come across well, and though I believe there was a bit of depth to her character and actions, ultimately, they came across as self centred and her development seemed like it never came even though it did.
The other supporting characters felt much more genuine, not perfect, just genuine.

With Maya's introduction, the tone of the drama shifted into more of drama than a romance, and that wasn't solely because of the new character. The focus was later shifted onto Taichi's personal growth, which, while I loved to see, kind of took away the focus from Kohei and their bond, the very things I had come to love in the first half. The romance then came much too hard and fast, and despite it's genuineness, felt too rushed.

Don't let any of that take anything away from this brilliant story though, because despite it's flaws, it was pretty perfect. The beauty of watching two people become someone the other person cannot see themselves without to each other, while still being themselves, understanding and recognising each other, it's a special thing.

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Slam Dunk or Fouled Out?

I didn't know basketball could be this dangerous, nor did I realise how easily you could mess up something with potential. I decided I would just list down the good and the not good, because as it stands, the things listed could easily be two different dramas.

The Good
- The Basketball Club. Just as a whole, the focus on the sport was something I really enjoyed. A rag tag team, an unconventional and unexpectedly good coach, a key player recruited from an unexpected place who has a complicated past with the team captain, this is the stuff that makes a sports drama.. a sports drama.
The way they went from a group of completely uncoordinated individuals to a team was amazing. I saw an actual bond between all the characters part of the basketball club, great teamwork, the underdogs who stood by each other through all the ridiculous plot points that were thrown at them.
That club of fifteen or so individuals were by far the best thing about this series, I found myself cheering for each of their baskets, rooting for them to get where they wanted.
And the actual game scenes were so aesthetically shot, except for some of those cartoon effects, the shots were precise and visually strong.

- Romance. Although it came by far and few times, I actually liked the romance. Just to clarify, this was a coming of age drama with two kisses, but I'm thinking romance wasn't the first thing on the director's mind with this story. And even then, there's something about Meen and Ping that I've never been quite able to figure out. Whether the story is nonsense or if the romance is minimal, they have some sort of charm as a pairing that I've never understood the logic behind, but I've stopped trying to figure it out. I just go with the flow and I can confirm they serve as much as they possibly could have.

- Friendships. Once again in relation to the basketball club, but I have to highlight the friendship between them. Fifteen members who went from being practically strangers or from having strained relationships to developing friendships and relationships that were refreshing to watch amidst all the frustrating and unnecessary scenes. I genuinely believe there isn't a thing they wouldn't do for each other, between the players, the managers and the coach, these people were the most genuine and well developed characters in the series, with good reason.
They may have started out on the wrong foot, but true to form, basketball is a team sport, and they became the best of teams. The scene where the team literally showed up for the coach when he was going through a tough time actually had me in tears, and that's the thing, they always showed up for each other. I really wish they had spent more time developping this, compared to, well.. the points that follow.

The Should Have Been Better
I say should have been better, but I really mean completely unnecessary.

- The Basketball mafia. What was the purpose of the most aggressive villain in the series except to introduce Ryu? The entire focus on Ryu being forced to play street basketball was nonsense and it eventually led nowhere. There, I said it. They introduced this as if it were a big deal and would form a major crux of the story, but oof. It was concluded so lamely I had to laugh.

- One dimensional opposition. This was horrible. Ryu's mother and the science man who hated basketball were, I believe, literally added in to stir up drama that never existed. Maybe the drama with Ryu's mother was set up well, but the science man had no excuse being that extra about his funding. These could have been proper points of contention against the team, but a lot of yelling and whining that suddenly turns into unbounded support, it was as lame as it sounds.

- Unbalanced screentime. The basketball mafia, the one dimensional opposition and one more person who I'm yet to mention got way more screentime than they deserved. I wanted the majority of the focus to be on the game and the romance, but it sucks that things that were entirely unnecessary got more or at least equal screentime to the aspects that were worth watching.

- ATOM. No. Just no.
I mean, what was it that he actually did? Except for showing up unannounced at Zen's house and changing his hairstyle every next scene? I was convinced that he was a fictional character within the series who appeared like Beetlejuice, Ryu says his name out loud three times, and he appears in Zen's house out of thin air. No luck though, he was a very real character who played against Ryu and Zen in one match, played with Ryu and Zen in one match, and then caused a major confusing situation that was resolved in the last five minutes of the episode to give us the most anti - climactic of endings. I was hyper focused on Frank in this series, for all the wrong reasons.

Overall, this was a bag of mixed emotions. I loved some of it, didn't care for the rest. I think this could have been something worth it's while with a few changes, there were so many interesting characters and things to focus on, but when it comes down to the line, it was only okay.

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A story of friendship

Even though there was a whole lot of shipping going on from one of the leads, the friendship had to have been my favourite. There were weirdly more kind of friendships than there were relationships for a series with three couples.

I will say, I quite liked Gap and Wah. They started off on the wrong foot, quite literally using each other (and being very open about it/not at opening up about it), but I loved the way they developed their relationship by actually having both of them take an interest in each other's passions. They were a good match for each other, their energy vibed, they were understanding of each other and had minimal misunderstandings, and even when they had arguments, each of their points of views were totally valid.

On the other hand, I very much disliked the Shogun - Maitoh - Green love triangle that was obviously never going to go Green's way. There wasn't anything particularly likeable about any of it, it was never going to break Green's way, and even then, the way they seemingly presented Shogun's crush on Maitoh as something that developed suddenly after watching Green and Toh interact closely didn't sit right with me. Didn't help that Green and Toh had more chemistry, and Shogun had better chemistry with Toh's younger brother in that one very short scene than he did with Toh the entire series.

I did want to see more of Paul and Nice though, they established their crush on each other and their relationship pretty early, but they barely got any screentime after that. They had their moments, both good and bad, but I liked the scenes of theirs that we got very much.

More than anything though, I really appreciated the friendship in this series. There was a massive friend group, besties, friends who are like your siblings, every kind of friendship vibe going on. I liked that they showed that it may not always be sunshine and rainbows, that you may not always have a great relationship, but you can have a great friendship in that moment, and in those moments they will stand by you. These scenes had a lot of comedic moments which were quite nice as well, and some genuinely moving scenes as well.

Another thing I really loved was how they called out toxic fans, throughout the episodes, all of them. There were a few instances where certain things the characters did felt very uncomfortable, but I love a show that is self aware enough to call that out. It was well done.

Even if there wasn't anything great to rave about, this series managed to make some good points while still maintaining it's light mood introduced in episode one. A casual watch with it serious moments, it has something for everyone.

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Childhood connection, and something more

One of the major aspects of J BLs is that they're usually too short to develop character depth when the story focuses on developing romantic relationships and emotional depth. At least, that's what I thought.

Living With Him is a sweet, slice of life drama about two childhood friends who unexpectedly find themselves living together after years of no contact between them. But when feelings develop between the two of them, they have to deal with their own emotions before addressing those of the other.

The series delves into the thoughts and emotions of Kazuhito and Natsukawa as individuals contemplating a change in dynamics between them before anything else. Showcasing their relationship as children and later as teenagers and adults, we get to see the passage of their relationship that led to them living together and also why they develop feelings for each other.

Amidst all this though, we barely get time to actually see their relationship develop as adults. It is incredibly and increasingly clear with every episode exactly why they like each other, based on aspects of their personalities and their experiences that led them to become the people they've become. But we just don't get the pay off we deserve after the massive buildup. The romance inevitably had to take a backseat to allow their personal growth, but when the story required it, it delivered on moments to establish their solidifying romance.

The result was a simple and sweet story of an understated transformation of a relationship from childhood friends to virtual strangers, and then lovers. I could spend hours analysing how their personalities reflect their thoughts and actions since this is a character driven story, but I'm just going to reflect on how much I enjoyed it as a love story.

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A life alone doesn't necessarily mean a lonely life.

Tsutomu lives a life of solitude, alone in his mountain cabin, with rarely a visit from people. His only companions are his dog, his gardens and nature. Living season by season, month after month, life just goes by for the writer.

As he experiences nature bloom and wilt it's way as time passes, he reminisces his past and contemplates his future. Harvesting seasonal produce, cooking it the way he was taught to as a novice monk, reminiscing about his childhood. Meeting his editor, who worked with his late wife, who he cannot move on from, still hanging onto all remnants of her. His carpenter friend, his mother in law, his gardening, everything around him is a reminder of his past and it continues to dwell on his present.

A few unexpected events then allow him to contemplate on his future, whether he should embrace his past and gain closure. His slow life, seemingly devoid of meaning suddenly has more and less meaning than it did before.

An introspective, slow burner, even if doesn't manage to keep you on your toes, I don't think they ever meant it to.

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What Did YOU Eat Yesterday?

Every once in a while, when the drama and conflicts feel too much, when you find the need to watch something that feels like a warm embrace, when you want to watch people navigate real issues with grace and sensitivity, I hope you'll think about this series.

I'll keep this short and sweet. Watching two people in love, handling their lives in the best possible manner makes you incredibly happy. Watching them influence the lives of those around them and get influenced by the very same people, watching them grow and evolve as they solve problems big and small, issues important and relevant, all while maintaining the healthiest of relationships is something admirable.

So I'll just say this. If you ever find yourself searching for a drama where every scene feels like a conversation you can witness in real life, where food plays an important role, whether it's to discuss issues or bring people together, or simply satisfy your craving, where you may get the sense that you're somehow part of this huge family, where it's just genuine happiness on screen, I hope you'll think about this series.

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A few ups and downs, but mostly serves

Man Suang is a solid production.

Though this may be a fictional story, it is intricately connected to the events of the time period, including the societal norms of the time period. The movie also showcases the political and cultural landscape of Thailand in a realistic way. When you produce a fictional account set in a very real and turbulent political and historical period, it is bound to get confusing at times, but for what it's worth, they did an admirable job.

Coming to the actual story, it was quite predictable. Like I mentioned, historical stories require a certain amount of explanation and background to be fully appreciated, and while I would have preferred that, the storytelling was solid for the most part. The characters are well fleshed out, the motives were clear and despite the fact that the mysteries were easily solved and the plotlines were succinctly wrapped up. The ending left something to be desired, but I guess that's what the sequel's for.

One thing that needs to be cleared up: there's no romance. This is a political thriller through and through, and even with the occasional glances, I'm glad it didn't develop into a romance. Including a full fledged romance would have taken a lot of time, and this was already chock full of events that including more scenes would have messed up something that already felt like it lacked a few things.

I probably wouldn't re-watch this, maybe if I wanted to see if I missed some details. More than anything, it was a pretty good watch and it will keep you invested.

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Friends Forever

What could have been huh? There's no telling though because absolutely nothing happened in the two episodes. It took an episode and a half for the contents of the synopsis to take place, leaving no room for anything else to happen.

What followed was a whole lot of flashbacks, which would've been understandable if this was a long format series with a lot of twists and turns and actual intrigue and suspense about who the murderer is. Unfortunately, since everything is incredibly obvious, the flashbacks play no role. It would have at least made sense if they were just showed once, but one scene was shown as a flashback multiple times, and this applied for several scenes.

It's a shame though, because there was absolutely no story beyond the synopsis, no proper genre you could think it is, and not even a proper conclusion to what could have been a solid miniseries.

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Confusing, from beginning to end

This has got to be one of the most confusing miniseries' I've ever watched, because you can see what they tried to say with the story and at the same time, you can't. I have so many doubts about episode 1 but I can't remember them because they've been replaced by equally confusing doubts about episode 2!

The actual premise they wanted to execute is quite interesting, ghost of the lead's ex - boyfriend takes over the body of someone the lead detests, but ex - boyfriend can't let anyone know it's him in the body of the casanova, simple enough. They screwed up the execution though, and boy how! The thoughts and actions of the characters rarely line together, the dialogue and narration is so messy that it's impossible to distinguish between the flashbacks and the present, and there are so many plot holes. More often than not, it's like the ex - boyfriend cannot remember that he mustn't reveal his identity because he's dropping clues everywhere. There's a weird love square between the lead, the ex - boyfriend, the casanova and the lead's sister, I mean, you have to see it to believe it.

You can tell what they wanted to do though, they wanted to create something sad and angsty, but with the runtime and the way they bungled the story, there's only so much they can present. Interesting premise that just faltered.

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I promised myself that I wouldn’t write a review for this series, but here we are. This review is not one of personal opinion, but rather completely objective.

What makes a series good? A cast who can genuinely act, or a production house that knows it’s way around, or a story worth sticking with? Unfortunately, Amore seems to possess just one. Acting can only carry a series up to a particular point, after which the audience needs something more to stay with the series through it’s run. Be it whether there are sound glitches, an everlasting story that seems to be headed nowhere or the introduction of controversial actors, Amore has it’s fair share of problems, but what is the factor that this series contains that continually keeps the viewers interested?

The answer to that would seem to be the acting. The chemistry between the characters, especially Wil and Joey is off the charts right now and these characters seem genuine, which resonates with many an audience. The cast only seems to improve every single episode and that’s an amazing thing, but it’s not enough. As I mentioned before, just good acting is not the saviour. This was marketed as a love story between Jimmy and Joey, and that was honestly the reason I started this series, but as the episodes pass, I feel myself getting tired of the ongoing storyline. With the absolute absence of romance between the leads as of now, lack of consent, the love interests that keep hounding the lead, this drama seems to be heading down hill.

What’s still keeping you and I here though? That I don’t know the answer to. Maybe it’s hope that it will get better, or maybe you are genuinely interested in the show. Be what it may, by my standards this is mediocre. I sit here with the hope that it will get better and if it does, maybe this review will end on a positive note.

EDIT AFTER EPISODE 25
So..... it did not get better. Yes the acting is absolutely consistent, and my complaint that the story seems to be going nowhere is quenched, but god, when did the story get this bad. For a while, it genuinely looked like the story was going to get better than before, but it somehow took a turn for the worse.

Long drawn out dialogues, unnecessarily written scenes that seem to have no ultimate connection to the final outcome of the story, the writing out of several main characters and the incredibly annoying behaviour of some characters are just unbearable at this point.

Once again, good acting can only get you to one point, you need way more than just acting to make a series enjoyable. Be it a very popular series, a much anticipated sequel or a series with not much to go for, we look for elements that make it enjoyable to the self and have come to expect a certain level of quality, which Amore seems to lack. A certain panache, if you will. Yes, the leads finally got together, in the 25th episode. The baby,.... well something happened to the baby and I don’t want to spoil it more than I already have.

With the news out that the director was fired from the company, the fate of the series hangs in the air. Will it be continued, or concluded on that slightly positive note remains to be seen.

EDIT AFTER THE FINALE
What in the actual f*** was that!!!! True Love is Sacrifice!!!! I mean seriously.... what was that???
Like they got together in episode 25, they were happy in episode 26, then comes episode 27 and bam! Jimmy goes off to become a priest!?! Like whyyy??? I’m so pissed right now.

Even without the horrible ending, the series has nothing to brag about. The premise seemed extremely interesting and it seemed like it was going to be a light hearted rom - com type series, but they just had to go the dramatic route. Sometimes the really predictable story is leagues better, and maybe with a better script and a slightly higher budget, this would have been a good, a great series even, but now, it has literally ended on nothing.

As I’ve already mentioned, it started out well, fizzled out somewhere in between and finally went out without a bang. Some dramas work, this didn’t.

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So this series was not initially available where I live, but after I started watching it, I could not stop!
This series is EVERYTHING!
Now this series uses the engineer trope very well, but it isn’t nothing I’ve not seen before, that’s my only complaint about this series.

THE STORY:
The story is good. Duen has to buy flowers for Bohn every morning for a month. The story starts from here and evolves into the relationship of four total couples - Bohn/Duen, Ram/King, Boss/Mek, and Thara/Frong(Yim). The rest of the season is the evolution of their relationships.

THE ACTING:
I’m very pleased with the acting in the series. Each character is well written and actually have substance unlike some other series’ I’ve watched. Sometimes the actors can be uncomfortable with their roles, and they were decidedly so at some points in the series, they managed to make up for it very well. This may be the first series for several of these actors, but credit where credit is due.

THE PRODUCTION :
Very good production. One thing I’ve already mentioned is the engineering trope which is overused according to me, but other than that I’ve got no problem with this production team.

THE OST:
I love the OST’s of several other series’ as well, but this one hits different man! I love the OST and the lyrics of the OST. It’s just so beautiful.

SPOILERS:
I’m going to give only one spoiler. The first kiss is between... Mek and Boss!( Agghhhh!)

THE NEGATIVE:
There’s only one negative and that is the relationship between the leads. While very cute, it’s also a bit toxic. Bohn is prone to fits of jealousy and the episode about the “husband and wife” in the relationship was just unnecessary. Though it is quite usual for jealousy in a relationship, Bohn’s knocks on an unacceptable level. Also the fact that apparently Ryan won’t be returning for season 2 is just disappointing. Just have to see what happens to Mek and Boss.

THE ENDING:
So as previously announced, the series ended on an open note. Bohn and Duen make their relationship official and so do Mek and Boss. Ram King share a kiss, but King decides to not talk about it. Thara and Frong have these moments with Thara finding Frong’s necklace and all, but their arc ends with Thara describing his relationship with Frong as that of a senior and junior. I was ready to be disappointed with the final episode but I was mildly impressed. As for the sad ending Lay was talking about, my best guess is it’s Thara Frong. This was an open ending so for closure, we’ve all just got to wait for season 2.

Overall this series is quite amazing and I would urge you all to give it a try. Thank You!

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Secrets have never been more melodic

Melody of Secrets is good, trust me.

It started out vague and weird. Because you don't really recieve a diary you kept ten years ago from your ex-boyfriend, who suddenly wants to revisit your relationship. That ended ten years ago. I'm real life, this is the work of a serial killer and you should only go meet this person up of you are a police officer. But Botphleng is a journalist and he's curious, so he goes to the woods near his house (serial killer location by the way) and that's where he meets Tankhun. And because I'm always right, the two of them also find a dead body. Now this is where the plot starts up - but I'm not going to spoil anything for anybody. Except this one last thing. Botphleng lost all his memories ten years ago.

Now I won't spoil anything because the twists and turns in this series genuinely had me gagged. Some of them even earned an audible gasp from me and before you ask, yes. It will make you want to tear your hair out, but it's worth it (not literally, it's a figure of speech). The shocks keep coming, almost every episode and they keep you on your toes. You don't even have to pay attention to every single detail here! You can zone out for a minute and it wouldn't matter because the story is solid and it's not too complicated in a way that makes you want to drop the series. Just confusing.

And you will zone out too! They had a ton of filler scenes and pacing issues, one of the weak points of this series by the way, but who doesn't enjoy a series where you can take a tiny nap while an unnecessary second couple are forced to flirt with each other?

Because I won't complain about the lead pairing. Nope, one of the brightest spots in the series, especially considering how weirdly their relationship starts out, even without them being shared witnesses to a murder. It gets so weird until you actually feel creeped out because you're rooting for this weirdness?? But they're so cute and once everything is out in the open, you can actually see that they're perfect for each other. And no notes about Force and Book's chemistry either. Botphleng and Tankhun are the pair you get when you balance Top/Mew and Arc/Arm - perfect amounts of toxic cuteness.

It is strangely comforting, the whole vibe of it - with the dramatic OST, the gestures of grandeur, and the whispers and the secrets, it shouldn't be a weekly comfort watch by any means, but I'm weird and it worked.

And I do recommend this. I'm not sure how convincing my arguments are, and I may be led to believe that this is very much a watch down to people's preferences, but I will recommend. Melody of Secrets is good. Trust me.

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