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An oddity
There are plenty shows which start well and then, after a couple or so episodes, go downhill. This show is one of them. Though the final episodes somewhat improve after very boring middle.What's odd, though, is that acting is rather OK at first but then gets worse instead of improving.
I'm not sure who is to blame. The screenwriters, who took an interesting premise and barely made use of it throughout the show focusing on flashbacks, pointless details and stilted dialogues instead, the director, who hardly helped the cast to deal with the tepid script, or the editor, who often failed to combine the scenes into a coherent, flowing story.
The music was nice though.
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Club Friday to Be Continued: Friend & Enemy
2 people found this review helpful
Thai Televisa presenta
Not since the heyday of Televisa presenta have I seen such an outrageous plot, over-the-top actions and messy (business and personal) relationships. This show is to a certain extent enjoyable, but it's better not to have your expectations high.I 1.25x-watched the show from start to finish with quite a lot of skipping in the second half with too many staring-with-a-blank-face-and-teary-eyes-into-emptiness-for-five-minutes-straight scenes for my taste.
It's difficult to feel serious about anything that happens, since basically nobody acts as a sensible person. The police officers perhaps are an exception. So those who prefer a relatable story, better look away: the show's entertainment value is purely in its outrageousness.
The acting wasn't bad for such kind of a story: sometimes awkward, but most of the time OK.
My favourite part was the photography show where I saw quite a few beautiful shots, albeit only fleeting glimpses.
My least favourite part were some of the women's shoes.
And what's with shooting videos in vertical mode but getting horizontal videos instead?
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This review may contain spoilers
A slow rejection of the world and then return to life
This drama is slow. Very slow. Extremely slow.Yet the more I watched, the more I was convinced that this drama was one big metaphor for grief.
Grief can be intense but short. Or it can be long and excruciating. Especially when the person has things to regret, things that can no longer be. And that's what happened to Ame. Barely reunited with Taiyo she lost him to death. Before she could say to him and do with him everything she wanted.
With grief comes the loss of appetite symbolised by her loss of taste, the inability to enjoy scents symbolised by her loss of smell, the numbness to the world symbolised by her loss of touch, the desire to be left alone and not see anyone or anything symbolised by her loss of sight. And with the loss of hearing the total isolation from the world is complete and the person is then alone lost in grief.
But it's dangerous to give in to grief completely. And in its final chapters this drama shows the act of letting go and coming back to life.
That's how I see this drama. And that makes it so much more poignant and enjoyable, despite some lazy writing here and there. And despite it being extremely slow and very melodramatic.
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A very slow slice of life
This show is a mix of parts that have documentary feel, parts that are your usual slice-of-life servings and parts that are overdramatic in a soap opera style. Despite still-sort-of-slow pace the last two episodes feel rushed, as if they had to wrap up the story as soon as possible.The documentary-like parts introducing Taiwan and its culture were good and felt genuine and warm. The overdramatic parts were, well, overdramatic. And the rest of the story was a slow moving life from loss to love, from love to loss, from old things to new, from new things to memories, with the characters growing in some ways, staying the same in others.
All characters are very different and look pretty genuine. Even Nian Nian, though she could be annoying at times. I personally know a person like that, though, so even she didn't look fake.
Nothing fancy, nothing polished, just pure life, more or less unfiltered.
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Some wet dreams should never be shared in the open
Three and a half episodes and I call it quits. Few of the stories I've seen over my years on this planet were as bland as this cringefest. There is nothing even remotely sexy or romantic in this show and five year olds would probably be more mature than this lot of characters.Cliche after cliche, a doormat for a FL, a kid pretending to be a mature man for a ML, and a non-existent story that looks slapped together at the last minute. Japanese shows don't shy away from uncomfortable topics and perhaps this show/manga was aiming to be something of that kind. But the result is 9½ Weeks for kids, though suggestive scenes make this show not really suitable for them.
Symbolic 3.5 stars for the effort, but not recommended.
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(Lithuanian)
Trys su puse serijos. Daugiau neištvėriau. Per savo gyvenimą nedaug mačiau istorijų, kurios būtų tokios tuščios ir apie nieką. Seksualu? Romantiška? Nieko panašaus. Penkiamečiai ir tie atrodytų labiau subrendę nei šito serialo personažai.
Klišių paradas, bestuburė pagrindinė herojė, suaugusiu apsimetantis vaikas kaip jos partneris ir bet kaip turbūt paskutinę minutę sumesta istorija. Japonai mėgsta savo serialuose užkabinti keisčiausias, nelabai jaukias temas. Gal ir šitam seriale (mangoj) bandyta. Bet išėjo šnipštas – „Devynios su puse savaitės“ mažiems vaikams, tik dėl seksualinių užuominų tiems mažiems vaikams nelabai išeina rodyti.
3,5 simbolinių žvaigždučių už pastangas, bet tikrai nerekomenduoju.
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