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Lot of unexploited potential, writing weaknesses and a WTF ending : quite memorable but frustrating.
What would happen if people were able to see "red lines" connecting sexual partners ? This intriguing idea hooked me from start. Unfortunately, I feel the writing failed to exploit well enough this powerful concept. There were a lack of logic at many points of the series. The "one crime by episode" format prevented to build properly the overarching common arc. It led to an absurd ending that what quite stylish but clunkily constructed with little rhymes nor reasons.The acting was good. It is my first time watching Lee Soo Hyuk and I found him incredibly charming in his role. Lee Da Hae does also a good job providing nuance to a part that could have definitely been better scripted. It is a bit of a shame both did not interact even more. Given the length of the series, I wish the showrunner would have spend less time following the teens (played by A Rin and Lee Eun Saem) and focusing on the adults side of the story. Especially because A Rin's character remained so much of a blank caneva during the course of the drama, I was disappointed that the focus was so much on her.
Visually, there were a lot of impactful scenes. It was quite icky at time with a really immersive dark atmosphere and a fitting soundtrack. There is an artsy vibe to the series that I really appreciated. While I feel the story in itself never really reached its full potential with an ending that felt very lacking, production and making remaining of a very good quality from start to finish.
Despite all its fails in writing and the failure in exploiting fully the concept, I would still recommend this to people that are looking for a dark thriller with an innovative central idea. It is a let down for many reasons but at the same time the premise in itself is so strong that I think it is worth giving a shot to this quite short drama. Be mindful if you have any trigger, there are some very dark and disturburing scenes that could be upsetting.
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I had no expectations and still was disappointed by the nonsensical plot choices and bland ending
Not going to lie, Pit Babe Season 1 is definitely not a series I would recommend as it is deeply flawed. Still, I wanted to give a shot to the Season 2 as I thought it could explore the lore more and provide a more satisfactory take on this very specific universe as well as on the various characters.However, the writing was particularly weak. It first approached some interesting ideas but very quickly fell apart with characters making all the bad choices and a too easy ending. Another big issue was the numerous secondary couples : there were so many of them that it was impossible for me to really care about any. As in Season 1, the fantasy universe was not exploited enough : instead of developing the lore, the scenario got stuck on one note.
It is not all bad, as I quite enjoyed the performance of Pavel as Babe. He delivered some solid acting moments despite all the cringe factors from the script. His chemistry with Pooh (playing Charlie) was very good and probably the main reason I completed the series. Production was also good overall, even if some fight scenes could definitely have been better, they did not feel too cheap. The OST was quite enjoyable at first but clearly became too much as it was overused.
I would not recommend this to people as there are better BLs out there. If you had already mixed feelings regarding Season 1, this Season 2 will certainly not change your mind.
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Bingeable, uncanny and dark but felt lacking as ended when entering the real good stuff
A really enjoyable short series featuring a very odd family surrounded by mystery and violence. I loved the characters and their dynamics : especially the parents roles hold by incredible Bae Doo Na and excellent Ryu Seung Beom. Their characters' strange relationships with each other and their kids was the best part of the drama. If the pacing was good, the storytelling could have been better, in particular regarding the growth of the kids and their evolution. Production was excellent : it was gritty and violent fighting scenes were well-filmed.I would recommend this to people that are looking for a thrilling action series with a solid cast. It is quite comparable to the manga "Spy x Family", in a darker version with a touch of "Black Widow" and an "Adams Family" vibe. Quite a tasteful combination ! Unfortunately, it can feel a tad frustrating because of its short duration. I wish some of the most interesting elements regarding the family relationships would have been exploited more, especially regarding the past of the characters. If there is a second season, I will watch it for sure.
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A "pick me up" mini-drama with bite-sized episodes, packed with humor and very entertaining
I had a super fun time watching this series which features two neighbours with a very awkward and then wholesome relationship. The plot is totally surreal and ultra parodic, with a lot of diverted staples in the BL genre. It is not really a BL but much more an humorous take on the odd relationship between two guys. Friendship or love, that's left to the viewer's interpretation for sure and that's not really the point of the series.The cast was quite good. I like a lot Choi Woo Shik and he did not disappoint here: he has an excellent comedic timing. Jan Ki Yong is an excellent discovery : his character is very dead-panned and attractive. Definitely an excellent pairing with his costar. Jang Hee Ryung is completing the cast. Without her character, I feel the comedic aspect would have been lessen as she is really the one creating the awkwardness and the laugh at the actions of the two boys.
Production value is quite modest in itself but good enough for the series. The behind-the-scenes were a nice addition to the watch as it clearly showed how much the actors had fun shooting this mini drama. The soundtrack of the series was pretty good as well, with a couple of songs that made me very nostalgic.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a fun and short watch. If you like parody and BL stories, this one will definitely make your day brighter and lighter. It is very short (maybe even too short, i would have loved to see more, I feel the concept could even have been further exploited) and totally worth a shot.
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Some stuff improved from S1, some not as good as S1 - still gripping and entertaining gameshow!
I quite enjoyed this second season of The Devil's Plan. It improved on some elements from Season 1 while being less good on some other aspects.The novelty factor is not there anymore, still some of the twists hit and are exciting. The participants are also more aware on what to do to succeed and collaboration, forming alliance is more important than ever. I wish we would have spent even more time following the bonding outside of the games because the social aspect is such an interesting part of the show. Some had more cunning social skills, some had clearly high intelligence and the best had it both
The cast felt more balanced than in S2 with less "free riders" that were just being carried by the overall group. I feel the ones that made it through the end truly deserved it. Like in S1, not all the games were at the same level of interest and if I appreciate the change in making both regular and prison games with high stakes, I had trouble to care about all of them.
I would recommend this to people that enjoyed the first seaon. It shares similarities but also is quite different for some parts. I wish the next season (if there is one) will manage to find an even better balance between social interactions, alliances building and games. It might be difficult to renew a third time the gameshow, to keep the participants on their toes, not knowing what to expect...But I still wish they try it !
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The cliffhangers will keep you pressing play on the next episode button!
Pretty gripping and entertaining gameshow : it was intense and different, with a lot of twists. Not all the games were as interesting and the level of difficulty truly varied. Collaboration was a key element: forming and breaking alliance was the most important skill to foster. I liked how the production made the participants live together : it was just one week but it clearly helped them in creating relationships and therefore some interesting moments for a few of the departures.I felt sometimes frustrated to see bright candidates leave early while people with seemingly less capacity in developing strategy and finding solution were kept and protected, while mooching on the strongest players. At the same time, while frustrating and seeming unfair, it is definitely a very important soft skill to be able to have enough social intelligence to be part of a group and win thanks to the team rather than solely on your own strengths.
The cast was varied enough, I did not know most of them but I quickly got some favorites and I am very happy with the winner who had a great storyline. The set were pretty good with the game area and living area, and I think the production team managed to make the game quite understandable thanks to clear visuals.
I would recommend this if you enjoy game show involving strategical alliances. If you enjoyed shows such as Elite League, it might be right in your alley. The second season has just started and I will for sure watch it as well, hoping for stronger participants and less moochers (even if very sympathetic).
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Not enough stakes, not enough sparks.
This vertically filmed South Korean BL features the encounter of idol Do Ha and stuntman Jae Yeon. As the latest is teaching how to handle action scenes for his next movie to the former, feelings arise. Honestly, I found the story pretty forgettable overall and I think that chemistry could have been better. I was pretty interested by the set up, but looking back at the ending, I feel that the pay off was too modest given the set up done.I would not recommend this series as I feel there are better BL out there. It is a pretty bingeable watch due to the format but I feel that nothing really exciting happens. The vertically filmed scenes did not help to showcase adequately the fighting scenes and the close up on the faces of the actors, rather than creating an impression of intimacy, left me with a feeling of disconnection.
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Very short and still felt like a loss of time
This drama had so many challenges playing against it. The most noticeable was the recasting of one of the main lead, right in the middle of the series. For such a short length series, that's already a huge challenge in keeping the viewer onboard on the relationship after the cast switch. The writing was another big issue : the script tried to do too much. Given the run time, the scenario should have chosen a sole issue for the characters and focused on it rather than mixing additional elements, distracting without bringing anything to the development of the relationship.I would not recommend this to people. There are too many issue with the overall writing and the cast shift while unfortunate and probably not a voluntary choice, made it very difficult to really be onboard with the romance. To finish on a positive note : I like the starting idea of the characters being apart because one is a trainee that failed to debut while the other debuted. The idol context was really an interesting background for a BL drama and it is a shame it was not exploited more.
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Despite a good start, it very quickly became bland and repetitive
This survival show features 36 participants with the objective of debuting a new boy group. The cast is made of trainees that don't belong to any agency with the premise of the show being that the participants are just "regular boy". It is more or less true, as some of the contestants had some previous training at an entertainment agency or have even participated in previous survival show. But well, overall indeed, the cast seems to be quite fresh and with a lot to learn.Unfortunately, past the first half of the show, I quickly lost more and more interest. The episodes -while relatively short- felt more and more repetitive. I enjoyed the introduction as it allowed to discover the participants...But very quickly there were almost not personal focus, making it very difficult to feel invested in any contestants (except a few ones). Still, I liked some of the contestants, despite the lack of screentime and featuring of individuals' personality, and I hope to see in another context (or even in an upcoming survival show) the ones that I liked and did not made the debut group.
The saving grace for me was the guest jury, often made of idols that I like and it was fun to see them commenting on the performances. Other than that, the storytelling was very flat : no evil editing but certainly nothing really exciting happening. Overall, they work and repeat choreography, present it to the permanent dance judge and/or vocal judge that tell them to improve...They work a bit more and get better...And that's the whole trajectory of most of the episodes. That's why honestly, all the performances blend together with too few outstanding. Finale episode are rarely the best part of survival show, and here again no exception. It felt particularly void with just 3 performances : 2 original songs really forgettable and the signature song which was clearly badly lip-sync.
I would not necessarily recommend this to people as I feel there are better / more exciting survival shows out there. Unless you are fond of one of the contestants (or of one of the guest jury), I think it is lacking in too many ways. A more exciting editing, bigger budget as well as better original songs would definitely have helped the show. Too bad !
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More a queer vlog than a dating show : good cast but production could have been better
This Japanese dating show is quite different in its approach from some of the other dating show I have seen. It has an almost vlog feeling which is good in a way, because it feels relatively low scripted and it root the show in reality. Indeed, participants have jobs they need to attend to, they have a life and discuss about it... At the same time, the slice-of-life element make also the show feel slow and quite repetitive.The editing is kinda horrendous, it is difficult to understand some of the production choices. They filmed the participants for one month long, they had hours of footage but they edited the show in such short episodes that it left the viewer hanging, feeling like knowing very little about the relationships between the cast. It is like despite all that time shooting there were not enough content for making it really interesting and that's why they editing the episodes that way, with a pacing that still felt sluggish at time. The way they cut the episodes was so strange and odd, especially with the comments of the panel which was useless. Indeed, the commentators broke the pace of the show even more with a lot of rather bland comments and middle-of-the road reaction. Either they needed to be more insightful and charismatic, either they needed to be removed from the show completely.
I like a lot the cast, they had a good variety of profile, with a lot of sensitive individuals that bonded in a believable way. Some had more screentime than others, but I feel that the choice made sense in the overall picture and trajectory of the romances. I wish there had been more dates, the coffee truck seemed liked an interesting idea at first but there were not a lot of interesting things emerging from there. Some of the participants had a journey full of little bumps but also with growth which I appreciated: and even if I would have been exhausted in their place, I was satisfied with their storyline.
I would recommend this to people looking for a different kind of dating show, more slice-of-life and feeling very cozy. Despite production and storytelling flaws, maybe bound to happen as it was a first season, with showrunner trying to find their marks, I will be watching the season 2 which is planned. I hope the production team will adjust a bit the format in order to foster more romantic moments between its cast and less repetitive points.
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A live action that missed the mark on so many points, not true to the original source material
This movie was such a disappointment as I love the manga. It is certainly not an easy story to adapt as it was foremost published as comedic vignettes / Otaku slice-of-life format rather than full chapters (at first at least, as the story progressed, the storyline became more full fledged in the manga but the short comedic pages kept being what make the salt and fun of the manga).Still, despite the fact that it is not so easy to adapt "as such" that kind of work, I feel the adaptation choice were done without understanding what was the main point of the source material. It was about friends-to-lovers but also learning to accept yourself through the eyes of characters sharing the same passion, even if it is deemed as strange / out-of-touch with real serious adult life. It was not just about romance, it was much more than that : fun and heartfelt at the same time.
I have 3 main criticisms:
1)I don't understand the choice of making it a musical. The main actress sing pretty well but it was not the point of the story. The various songs made little sense in the context of the manga. It feels like a cope out to make characters sing their feelings rather than having dialog and directing driving the point.
2) I also felt that the directing point of view lacked of love for the Otaku culture. The humor which worked so well in the manga, did not work here. It felt almost critical of the quirks of the characters, showing them as flaws for the relationship rather than taking a more tender approach, underlining how well they fit together which is too bad.
3) In the source material, the main couple interact with another couple also deep into Otaku culture (even if it is quite different for each of the 4 main characters) and here the second couple was totally set aside, while their dynamics was so good in the source material.
I would not recommend this to people as it was such a disappointment for me given the fact that I love the source material. Even my huge appreciation for Yamazaki Kento cannot redeem the movie to my eyes.
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Not worth the time, pretty bland and forgettable
This movie is about as forgettable as it could be. It features very classic shojo manga tropes. Sometimes a well made classic can be of course highly satisfying, especially if it showcases some interesting twists. Here, it was unfortunately not the case.I did not feel the chemistry between the main actor and the main actress...And the romance felt unfortunately very lacking. I found that the female lead was overacting, which was part of the point as her character lives fantasies in her head...But I found that pretty poor. The male led should also have been more swoony, instead he felt too bland.
I would not recommend this movie to people as I feel there are better high school romance out there. I have not read the original material and honestly, this live adaptation did not convince me to give it a try.
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Slice-of-life meet-cute at a cafe : not a lot to see
Let me preface this review by stating that it is not a bad short movie...This just flew right over my head. I understand the concept of the main character investigating his romantic options at the cafe. But the result was so evident to me because I felt the main lead anticipated it already that I did not get why it took that turn to finally circle back to the obvious. If the main protagonist had felt more conflicted and surprised, that might have worked better.The main actor playing the customer at the cafe was very charming and the three barista were okay as well. Nothing outstanding but sufficient given the simplicity of the plot. Production had a limited budget but was effective in featuring a calming place and smooth atmosphere.
I would not necessarily recommend this to people because I don't think you get out of the watch anything special. It is quite soothing in a way but very mundane as well.
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Disappointing...Wasted potential because of weak writing and unclear intention
After watching this movie, I am mourning the lost potential of what could have been an exciting and dark story mixing loan sharks and high school bullying. Not sure if it is the fault of the script, the editing or both, but unfortunately the pacing of this film was all over the place. The stakes were pretty slow to be put in place and the ending felt rushed. The ending left me unsatisfied by the lack of morale and overall character growth. At the end, I'm not sure what the intention of the story was and that's a bit of a bummer.The acting was not exceptional but satisfying given the writing issues. Yoon Seon Ho is clearly carrying the movie on his shoulder and is doing a good job depicting the anguish in which his character is constantly living. Yoo In Soo is excellent and I wish his role was better written in order to give him more room to play, especially at the end. Next to them, the females and villains roles lacked charisma.
I would not recommend this movie as I feel the pacing and writing were quite lacking. If you like Yoon Seon Ho and/or Yoo In Soo, it might be worth giving it a shot for them.
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Just fun and entertaining - quite bunker at time
I liked a lot this zombie movie. It is not subtle at all in the message it tries to convey but I found it quite relevant in the current society. A job that transforms you in a zombie and that traps you despite of you wanting anything but that. I like the bucket list of the main character and the way he faced head on the situation.The cast did a good job carrying this rather unserious story. Maybe it could have been better for some of the emotional scenes. But well, difficult to do much more with all the craziness that was happening at the same time. It was clearly aiming at comedy rather than horror. I was never scared at any point. And I will always remember a particularly dumb action plot in the aquarium.
I would recommend this to people looking for a fun action movie. Was it absurd at a lot of time ? Yes. Did I raise my eyebrow more and more as the plot progressed ? Yes. Was it entertaining? Yes. It is much more a comedy than anything else, it has a cartoonish feel to it, so if you are looking for something scary and serious, this is definitely not the movie to watch.
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