Hanatoko

It's a bit old and very cliche, but it's so entertaining and kept me totally invested right from the beginning of episode 1. Not once was I bored watching this drama. It's peak makjang! Absolute perfection if you want entertaining over-the-top dramatics done well.

I think what drew me in most is just how fun it is to hate the villains. You get to watch them squirm and plot endlessly as everything gets worse and worse, and yet the drama makes you feel a bit for them too. Not enough to hope anything gets better for them... but enough to pity them.

Much of the last volume's focus goes back to the parents if that's what you care about.

Much of the final episode is an emotional roller coaster and cry fest for various reasons, but the ultimate resolution leaves you feeling happy for everyone and the lives they've lived.

This was truly a masterpiece. It's a story that will live on in my heart forever.

The very beginning was definitely a bit slow for my liking, but once the romance gets going it is great.

Don't judge an actor so harshly just because you disliked one character he played. He was great, funny, and charming in Once Again, so I could absolutely see him as a ML. Though this is a spinoff, so really it's just extra material for a second lead role.

Get past episode 1 and pretty much all of the overly animated effects go away. Episode 1 felt like a completely different drama editing-wise and tonally. I almost didn't want to continue while watching it, but I gave episode 2 a chance and everything was MUCH better from there.

Also the ML's voice is just like that. It's his voice.

Every time we get a bad or sad ending, the comments come out defending it with how "REALISTIC" it is and sit on their high horse as if they've seen so much more depth simply because it ended sadly. I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting "realism" from a drama marketed from the beginning as a fun romantic comedy filled entirely with made up campy fantasy elements like vampires and a transforming cat-man.

This was unfortunately such a terrible adaptation after a great initial start.

I'm watching and enjoying both, but King the Land wins for me.

Let people enjoy things. You don't need to pit the two against each other.

I see the MDL comments are once again reminding me why I need to stop checking MDL comments.

This was beautiful from start to finish and had me crying right from episode 1. Its rating being this low is a crime.

At a rate of 2 episodes per week that schedule fits exactly with 20 episodes.

Historical dramas typically get 20 episodes. This isn't something new or recent.

Have the subtitles improved? I watched episodes 1 and 2 but getting through them was... an ordeal.

Having seen both this and the Japanese version, I must say I think I enjoyed this one faaar more despite liking both. It fixed just about everything I didn't like in the Japanese version. The FL is less frustrating, the SML is less of an asshole and more redeemable, the main leads spend so much more time together all throughout the plot, and the ending felt more satisfying and conclusive.

I did however like that the Japanese version put more focus on the importance/theme of shoes, which this drama missed out on.

This is a weird one for me. Contrary to some others here, I loved the first third of this drama because I am into MOBA games and the leads had great chemistry playing together. There's also at least somewhat of a plot moving them forward and giving them a goal.

But then you move into the middle section which drags along at a snail's pace as both leads mope, and the drama focuses on the ML's job to an unnecessary degree. There's still some plot here, though it doesn't feel particularly entertaining or satisfying. Overall this section was severely boring.

Then the last third was peak adorable romantic fluff, but nothing really happens as there's zero conflict to keep things interesting. It felt like I was watching a 10 episode happy ending, which can be fun but at some point you wonder why things haven't just ended yet.

The drama could've benefit from being cut shorter so that the long slog of a middle section is less painful and their time together towards the end is more cohesive/purposeful. Nonetheless though, I enjoyed my time watching it. Yang Yang and Dilraba are infectiously cute together and, at least for me, make this drama worth watching.

He has all of my investment. He better have the happiest of endings.

This FL makes it impossible to have miscommunication because she will scream into your face everything she feels and everything that needs to be said. It's great.