Action thriller? Heck no, this drama is pure comedy. I enjoyed it
So, the Bureau of Ninja Management excludes but is not limited to the following, because it actually has many a sour faced members:The Tawara Family, a bonus red phone of doom, and Karen the reporter, exciting stuff fr.
A ninja suffering from survivors guilt and can't 'kill'.
The other is a kleptomaniac who develops remorse only three days after a steal and takes it back, which she appears to have inherited from her mother, except her mother doesn't take her supermarket booty back, the daughter is into museum artifacts though (and she has an Instragram account where she posts her spoils, imagine that), and all this is for the excitement because they miss being ninjas, because of their lost one, and because the father put his foot down, hmmm.
Did an American scriptwriter write this story? Because the more I watched, the more I thought this show was mislabeled.
Now, the father and head of the Tawara family, brewery owner who hires people based on days and colours and a ninja in denial by night and when he's at home, the man is so conflicted he can't even swing a drink, while the last Tawara kid is just cute and eagle eyed, you know how kids know you've done something and they weren't even looking, except this one is looking, lol. And he gets upset when he discovered his parents have been keeping the secret about the family secrets, ends up shutting the door in their faces until they explained themselves, hmmm, not convincing behaviour for an Asian kid istg or are the new gen kids built differently? Because the parents aren't 😅.
A grandma ninja who still got it and always laughing at the breakfast table every other episode and she can talk with her shoulders and face y'all, without a sound escaping her mouth (it looked like flirting to me, why that scene didn't have sub, I will never know (I liked her a lot more).
Oh and there's a cult full of clapping-in-perfect-sync and very enthusiastic members who laugh, scream and cry when the voice tells them to, including holding hands while standing around a shrub without even singing kumbaya because why not?
Basically a family traumatised by the eldest son's death.
That scene where Haru saves Karen from the train racks, that's a new PPL style for shoes, it worked fr. I even looked them up online.
Boy the way Omi-san was framed for stealing those artefacts was genius, the naked with the box over his thingy was over the top, who does that? Is it a coming out? Ha!
I think Haru has been watching the dirty when he's not having nightmares, cause the way he was working Karen's mouth didn't look very virgin-like to me, huhu.
And who knew swordplay and a little blood spilling was all it took for Haru's parents to start banging again, it's a happy ending y'all.
Because what do you mean the guy is shocked his arm didn't grow back or sew itself back on, omo the way I couldn't stop laughing at that scene, heheheh!
I wanted Haru to finish wannabe Thanos off but of course Gaku the glory seeking guy waltz in to kill the man as unceremoniously as it could get, why didn't he try to kill him before until one of his arms came off? Hmmm!
I really can't take anything in this drama seriously LMAO!
I have mixed feelings about this drama and couldn't take anything in it seriously because it was ridiculous (including the OSTs because it looks like they've run out of jpop songs or did those simply not exist in Demon Gate Era Japan?)
I'm happy it had me laughing out loud the whole time, but I won't be rewatching it again. I'm out.
Was this review helpful to you?
Surprise, surprise. An undiscovered gem.
This drama surprised me.Mini dramas generally have a rep for sloppy acting, lazy writing and low budget costumes, but this one was good on all that.
The writing is top notch and the twist and turns in here! Everything is not what it seems, pay attention. The ML is def going on my list of actors to watch out for.
I binged the whole thing in one sitting with loads of spicy rameon, that's the reason why my eyes were wet in the last scene there, that rameon was real spicy.
Was this review helpful to you?
One of the best kdrama I've seen in a long draught of mid kdramas
Don't get me wrong, every single cliche you know in the kdrama world happened in this drama:Truck of non doom
Cliff of non doom
Chaebol paternity secret
Secret wife that no one knows
Secret wife that is the LOHL etc etc.
But it was still the best, in that the ML and FL acted out the part so well I forgot I was watching the same thing told in a different way...until I did and found myself cheering it on all the same, and the leads chemistry was 🔥, and after they started dating over the phone, I was officially won over.
Although fictional, this drama and most of the rest I've seen this year (including cdramas) have me seeing how difficult it is to be a woman from another woman's point of view. It looks to me that whatever y'all do invites scrutiny no matter how well y'all do it. Makes me want ask the women around me, 'how're you holding up? Are you okay?'
My hats off to the women who take it in strike and still step out winners at the end of the day regardless, y'all are the real MVPs. See y'all in 2025.
Was this review helpful to you?
They had a story to tell and they skipped the dance off and jumped right in!
The lead has grown so much as a versatile actor from his Bride of The Water God days.Can we please have drama's like this where the story begins right from the first episode and goes uphill from there?
This is the second drama I'm watching from Disney+ this year and I'm seriously considering ditching Netflix Korean dramas and jumping on the D+ wagon because this is good.
I normally run from drama's with graphic violence but I find myself looking forward to this drama's episode. Very impressive.
Was this review helpful to you?
Incredible acting: Not so incredible story
I am a fan of the Di Renjie franchise and have mixed feelings about this because I saw the potential of this drama from the very first episode but unfortunately, it didn't follow through. Let's break it down.1. Pacing and cases:
4 episodes for every case was damn long and sometimes plain boring, (with material on ground, they could have done 2 episodes per case and still not run out by the 100th episode fr) out of all his most interesting cases, these ones are the most bland. Come on, Di Renjie had empire shaking cases straight up from his origin days, but what's this? I could barely keep my eyes open halfway through the show because everything was so predictable.
2. Wu Zetian:
Normally, Renjie's stories focus entirely on him and push the empress to the background, but based on the first episode, I saw potential for different here but unfortunately, it didn't pan out.
3. Very good acting (slowpoke in the last few episodes, but I'll take that over cheesy any day), cinematography and clearly an expensive set. Gotta give it up to the actors, they tried with what they were given. You could tell they were trying to make Di Renjie look (I don't know if look is the word here 😂) 'human' away from his Obsessed God of Solving Cases vibez but I don't know if it was a success, depends on who's watching.
Conclusion:
It was a good drama, but it could have been better. I am conflict about the rating so I just gave it a high based on acting.
Was this review helpful to you?
I nearly missed out on this drama because of you-know-who
I was here for ML after Blood of Youth and Destined, but I hesitated because of You-know-who, but was assured in the comment section that she's "improved'.She has indeed improved, but I'm not sure whether is for good or worst.
What I'm trying to say is, this drama is a good one, give it a chance. ML and the rest of the cast really shouldered the show properly.
I wish the original actress was kept instead of.... because that face swap thing doesn't make sense at all, what with body figure (one was obsessed with being thin), voice, height even but we get the reason behind the switch. Hmmm.
Was this review helpful to you?
Right, wrong? They're different for everyone, especially heroes.
If only they haven't met, if and more if, this is an if only drama.I knew how it was going to end, but It still hit me hard.
The drama started out slow, I was thinking of ditching it until I reached episode 6 and from then on, well...I wouldn't want to say 'the good times began' but the story really started showing up to the job.
This drama reminded me that in real life, right and wrong are different for everyone and no you can't use your moral compass to judge other people's action, because everyone of us have their own difficulties.
I used the weekend to binge it, I'll definitely rewatch it again when I have a chance.
Was this review helpful to you?
It's on the 2023 best list without a doubt.
Well well well! This drama should be renamed Love yourself really,Never have I been worried about a drama ending so bad that I was willing to go looking for spoilers on the internet 😆🤓.
I think I cried a little watching the last episode. And I'm glad ZXW is here for our Hua Qian. I would have appreciated another episode where they're back at home with a few kids being spoilt by ZXW's mother, but I'll take what I'm given and move on. Show had a good run. It has my stamp of approval, hard to receive in my 15 years of gluing my eyes to tv screens in the name of worshiping the drama gods 😂
Was this review helpful to you?
The action scenes made the plot holes fade away
New Dragon Inn 2024 is not to be mistaken for The New Dragon Inn 2024.I watched the trailer for the latter and ended up watching this one because the latter cannot be found anywhere on this internet, and I mistook the two.
This one feels like we're missing some context that the writer doesn't seem to think is important, but aside that, the CG is actually good, the Vampires were a bit of a 'huh' moment for me and the main bad guys eyebrows were absolutely ridiculous, but the action scenes were well choreographed and very long.
I won't say I liked it but I don't dislike it either.
Was this review helpful to you?
Short drama's are so good.
Anyone else notices how short drama's have more sexy vibes than bigger productions?Sometimes the acting is even better.
I'm watching more of these while I wait for the bigger dramas coming out later in the year.
Highly recommend.
For the sake of 300 words, I'd like the say, I'm now a big fan of the ML.
Was this review helpful to you?
A puzzle that gives a different answer every time.
After finishing the drama, I realise why no one was willing to leave a bad review for it, because this drama is strange.Shot in slow motion, but by God, you can't watch it on FF because you just can't. Sigh.
The cinematography was good, the fight scenes were epic, even the melodramatic sister had her charm. Here's my take. There's no sequel coming because:
1. Shanguan Qian is not pregnant [watch the scene carefully again and see the clues for yourself]
2. The ending: I'm not exactly upset here because the premise of this drama was never the romance, so It's either the ML died waiting for Ah Yun to return to him, or she actually did return after. I'm leaning on more of her return because she's obviously upgraded in martial arts since her arrival at the Gong's annnd she's picked up skills, obviously. Me thinks if she became pissed, she could pull it off and manage a comeback to her man after all.
3. I'm not watching a sequel because I cannot can this drama anymore, but if one does come out, which I know will not, I'll conveniently forget I wrote these words and watch it anyway, LOL.
4. This drama is a dark horse, you cannot hate it, but you're not sure you love it, the rewatch value is high, but an immediate rewatch after is slow.
Was this review helpful to you?
Chemistry between leads is the only thing working for this drama.
If I'd watched this drama in my kdrama beginning fanboy years 14 years ago, I'd have been head over heels. But after coming down that lane this far, this is no longer enough for me. It's too superficial, concentrating on visuals and not an actual story (personal opinion please)There's nothing that makes me wait for that next episode, and the visuals are getting less tempting by day as a result, please if you read books, this story is not really all that fresh, the trope is saturated. I wish them a good run anyway, and an even better success in their next drama.
Was this review helpful to you?
Surprised me, doesn't happen often.
It's a hilarious drama, short as it is, it goes in and builds character back story that doesn't feel rushed over underdone.As is typical of mini dramas, there's no cheesy acting here, the bad guy is unserious, the aides are hilarious, the maid with the cursed mouth is absolutely ridiculously endearing, oh and the chemistry between the leads is off the charts, I want to see more of them in a full length drama please. Happy ending.
For a one sit fluffy non serious watch, this fits the bill nicely.
Was this review helpful to you?
They'll never let you go, hard as you might want it.
Li Lianhua, Li Lianhua, what a beautiful story. The trailer didn't do justice to this drama as it was vague and didn't reveal much, I could have missed out on this one.This drama was worth all my 40 hours spent on it. Very suprisenly for me, there was no character I hated in here, even the bad ones.
Although LL adopted FDB as his own (not what happened in the drama, you'll understand if you watch it), I wish he had actual kids of his own for FDB to raise.
Everyone had their role to play and everyone did it beautiful, no cheesy, no overcompensating, just professionalism.
I would watch a sequel if one ever gets into the works.
Was this review helpful to you?
Is it just me? No thanks.
I should have paid attention to the synopsis of this drama before jumping in, I didn't know it was a colonial era drama. Also wtf is going on in here?One minute people will be talking in Japanese, pretending they don't know Korean, and the next second, they'd switch to Korean without batting an eyelid and continue conversing like that didn't just happen.
The CG for that creature is good though, but the pacing is too slow, ML character is flawed and not well developed, FL lead feels a bit too cold, my screen is frosting whenever she's on. And why is every other scene in this drama a shouting show down? Is this how it was during the colonial days? Everyone shouting to be heard? This drama missed its mark with me. Next time, PSJ.
Was this review helpful to you?
