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Got super boring : disappointing jiejie-didi romamce
Unfortunately, I had some issues / things that interested me less with the way the series was written : the double timeline removed a big part of the angst and thrills from start...then it started to get boring to me even more until the last 6 episodes which I had trouble to finish.Best part of the serie was the set up, the beginning with them getting to know each other, the jiejie-didi relationship. However then I truly had issues with how the couple got together : it felt too fast paced and anticlimactic. Overall what I liked the most was when they were not yet in couple, so that's a bit a downer for a rom-com...there were also big pacing issues...We got so many fillers scenes/episodes towards the end.
I would not recommend this to people as I feel there are better older woman - younger man romance out there.
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The swoony romance made me forgive a lot
The romance in this drama took me by surprise by how swoonworthy it was. The episodes 1 to 16 were simply amazing with some of the most butterflies inducing scenes I have seen in dramaland. I will definitely remember it for a long time. I must admit that the second part of the series was less good with some noble idiocy trope that I wish could have been avoided. However, even if this is one of my pet peeve, I had much more leniency for the main lead that I would usually have...Proof that I was completely smitten by He Yu. Indeed, I totally fell under the actor's charm.I am not sure that I would have loved as much the main lead as a character if he would have been played by a less charming actor, the role was reaĺly swoony but also kinda reckless and selfish, even when doing things to "protect" the heroine. He did understand stuff by the end and still was amazing in many romantics scenes but still, I know that I would have probably nitpicked much more usually. The combo of fighter / car racer / obsessed gege was definitely the winning combination to make me forgive everything.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a swoony romance and that do not mind noble idiocy.
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Lengthy but quite entertaining overall
Even if not produced by the same company, this survival show is clearly inspired by the various "Produce" show. There are a couple of twists but overall it is pretty similar in the way it dedicates a solid chunk of time on the participants and the relationships with each other around practices and challenges, as well as during the elimination announcements with extra "filler" content showing the guys playing games and interacting.The show started with a whooping amount of participants : 200 guys with a vast difference in terms of skills and training. The audition part was really fun and served to skim off half of the number, allowing the viewer to focus on a more manageable size of candidates. I really enjoyed the cas t : some participants were known to me from other survival show but I appreciated to see them under a new light, while some were totally fresh faces. I also liked a lot the coaches (again some I liked already from other shows), they felt all invested and committed to the program and providing advice to the participants without artificial meanness to foster drama. Lee Soo Hyuk, acting as the MC of the show, did also a solid job with his soulful voice and gravita while seeming genuinely interested in the young talents and creating a nice soothing atmosphere for the cast.
Despite all of those positives, pacing and episodes length could definitely be improved. The survival announcement episodes as well as the final arc leading to the finale, the finale in itself were ultra long ! Do we really needed a +4 hours finale ? I don't think so. Other than that, the first half of the survival was the best part with all of the teams "arrangements" formed for each missions but it could have been more innovative in the concept itself and the last part definitely copy-pasted the "Produce" way of doing it, letting the concept of "assembly" feel more like a gimmick than something truly influential. Contrary to some survival shows, the performances were good but not that memorable to me, with very few I would rewatch even if I did enjoy the overall show and the outcome of it.
I would recommend this to people that like survival shows. The participants are really likeable and the storytelling is good without too much artificial drama nor evil edit. It is a pretty lengthy show that require quite a bit of time commitment because of the duration of the episodes and just the sheer amount of candidates. If you are nostalgic of the "old school" Produce shows, you might definitely want to check it out.
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More episodes were needed to conclude properly
This dance survival show from Mnet features dancers specialized in either Contemporary Dance, Ballet or Korean traditional Dance, all three genres rarely showcased in that kind of competitive program.The beginning with the auditions and ranking of the participants, each showcasing specific techniques from their respective genre, was really enthralling. Even if I wish there would have been more focus on relationship and personnality, I still was able to discover enough of the participants to get some favorites dancers I rooted for during the competition and I found super interesting how the techniques were evaluated by the various judges.
Despite having a quite good cast with the dancers, the bad pacing of the various arcs of the competition, as well as the way the format evolved to reach a very anticlimactic conclusion, really undermined my enthusiasm for the series and made it difficult for me to want to finish it. The last challenges felt short compared to the beginning ones and I got almost the feeling that the show was cut short. Instead of spending so much time on survival annoucement, I wish the storytelling would have focus more on the relationships, team work and practice.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a dance survival program featuring rarely seen genres. Despite the bad pacing, boring announcement episodes and the anticlimactic finale, there are some beautiful performances that are worth a watch.
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Twisted family, twisted relationships
This short movie managed to do a lot over the course of 21 minutes. The story in itself was intriguing with the "eleventh" brother of a really dysfonctional family. I think there is enough content in this interesting premise to make a full fleshed series or movie about it. There is for sure definitely a part of me that wish it would have been longer, even if I like the grey area and the flow of thoughts the ending left me with.Casting was alright, nothing outstanding if I'm honest but nothing too detrimental to the story itself as well. The production felt of course super indie and the music did not leave me a strong lasting impression as it was pretty much absent from the movie.
I would recommend this to people that enjoy short movie and psychological titles. Far from being a classic BL romance, it is more about mystery and dysfunctional family and worth 21 minutes of time despite its flaws.
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Gripping intro, felt repetitive and flat halfway through
After a compelling introduction and exciting first arc, the series fell apart. Scenario started to feel more and more repetitive, plot armor more annoying, dynamics between good guys and bad guys shifted but in a way that felt uncompelling and not deserved. Overall the drama got draggy and felt lacking. I'm left to wonder if the series could have been better under a 8 episodes format, with a tighter scenario.Throughout the series, the most interesting character was An Yo Han, played by D.O with his insane relationship with his governess played by Jo Yoon Soo. The dynamic between both characters would have deserved more screentime. Overall, casting was good and Ji Chang Wook did a great job as this hero seeking revenge and having great fight scenes. It is clearly in his wheelhouse and he nailed it. D.O. also raise to the occasion and performed incredibly well and in a chilling manner his machiavelic role.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a revenge action thriller. The beginning is amazing and if I am disappointed by how the second half went through, I feel if you are a fan of Ji Chang Wook and/or D.O, it is worth a shot to watch their performances.
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Cute but...not really memorable
I quite enjoyed this movie which features high-schoolers in the 90's navigating friendship and romance. The overall vibe is vibrant and fun, with the heroine being a very lovable character. If I enjoyed the period era in which the movie is set up, I had trouble believing in the heroine "ugly duck" problem with her hair as she was just peak adorable.Acting was good with Shin Eun Soo shining in her female lead role but unfortunately, I felt that the main male lead role was miscast. Gong Myung acting was alright but clearly I could not buy him as a high school student, even one repeating a year. That gap between the cast and the story was a bit an hinderance in my appreciation of the romance, even if there were a lot of sweet moments.
I would recommend this to people looking for a sweet 90's youth rom-com. It is not very deep for sure and it did not leave me with a strong lasting impression but I had a good time watching it despite thinking the main lead was a bit of a miscast.
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Unfortunately, never got onboard as much as I wanted with the romance
This age gap love story between a young host and a teacher who became his tutor had everything to seduce me. I enjoyed the first half of it with the focus on learning and the night life topic providing a very griping context for the romance. I found fascinating the Kanji writing and learning issues discussion. I found interesting the way the characters were built : deeply flawed and mostly unlikable because it was understandable given their background. I also liked the OST overall and the production value, even if there were some awkward editing with abrupt fade to black between scenes.However, I never managed to get fully onboard with their romance. I believed in the tutoring relationship and found it even very touching. However I was never convinced by the romantic chemistry. I think it is part linked to poor casting of the two main characters as well as storytelling. Indeed, they never showcased real intimacy between the main leads as their relationship remained very pure, which given the respective age and job of both characters felt strange. In addition to not offering satisfying romance opportunities to the couple, the scenario also derailed quite a bit as it provided to the antagonists too quick change of heart and undeserved redemption.
I am left to ponder if another casting for the main actor and actress would have helped in making the romance more palatable and the relationship feel more passionate despite the flaws in the scenario. Here some of their scenes felt very fake and lacking in the more romantic as well as more angsty moments.
I would not recommend this to people as I feel there are better "older woman/younger man romance" out there. Maybe with another cast and without the scenario derailing in an over the top way, I would be less severe with my criticism of the series.
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Same flaws as part 1 but worse because of the liberties taken with the source material
If part one was disappointing, part 2 was worse. There were some differences with the source material that really further impacted negatively the overall interest of the story.I was glad they avoided the childhood connection trope but truly disappointed at how they handled the Sun Ho (aka Kanda Shun) and Seo Joon (aka Igarashi Yu) storyline. The band twist did not work as well as what happened to their bandmate. It dramatically reduced the stakes of their relationship, and I would truly have preferred they went the idol road, like in the source material.
There were other poor scenaristic choices : all the storyline around Kanda Shun mother did not work, especially because of the clunky acting of Watanabe Keisuke who had chemistry with no one, making neither the romance nor the bromance work nor the painful family aspect. The way they concluded the romance was also a mistake in my opinion...The many writing issues, combined with poor acting and mediocre chemistry, really made the second part of this adaptation annoying to watch.
I would not recommend this to people as I don't like how they dumbed down the plot...Not saying that the source material was without flaw but I think it was an error to adjust the background stories of the male lead and the second male lead. Unfortunately, the heroine felt so bland that I struggle to find anything worth mentionning regarding the character. To be transparent, I am influenced by what I know from the original material and from the South Korean drama, if you haven't seen / read it, maybe you will appreciate it more than I, without the disappointment factor.
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Impossible for me to not compare - It does not live up to the South Korean drama adaptation.
Even if I try to look at this movie in itself, separating myself from the South Korean drama adaptation (which was far from perfect, as well as what I have read from the source material, also pretty flawed), this film was quite a let down.It is very colorful and pretty but the romance never worked for me, with the chemistry being very poor. That's the biggest flaw, with the lack of charism of the main cast. The role of Su Ho (called Kanda Shun in the japanese adaptation) is a pretty robotic one, but it felt even more bland in this version with the actor Watanabe Keisuke playing it in a very awkward way. The role of Seo Joon (here Igarashi Yu) gave me one of the strongest Second Male Lead syndrome but in this new adaptation, I felt nothing. To be fair, Tsuna Keito acting was not the worst but clearly he is suffering the comparison with Hwang In Youp from the South Korean drama.
While the movie took some shortcuts on the original story, the core of the story remained the same (even if I was frustrated at some scenaristic choices) but the feelings felt lacking as everything was accelerated. However, I feel it made perfect sense to split the story in a two part movie and to make the split at the point they chose to do it.
I would not recommend this movie to people as I feel the South Korean drama, despite its flaws, does a better job at bringing the webtoon to live. There are a lot of storylines that felt rushed off and the overall impression on this first part of the story is quite a superficial one as it does not dig enough into the suffering of the heroine and some of the most dramatic elements from the original story.
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Detchiage: Satsujin Kyoshi to Yobareta Otoko
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Memorable and gut-wrenching story with an interesting structure
This movie took me on a wild ride : I felt physically sick at some point because of the events unfolding on screen. The fact that the story is based on real life events is just heartbreaking and the social criticism raised by it is really worth a watch. It left me with a very profound and resounding impression.The unreliable narrator angle took by the film is very interesting in itself and has a clear shock factor. I wish a longer epilogue would have exploited it even more, especially to get more details on the outcome of the story. I also wish a third view would have been set up to define even better the media role : the part of Kamenashi Kazuya could have been developed more, even if in itself it did a solid job showing the brutal impact of media targeting. A better pacing and and a longer epilogue showing the various sides would have been perfect to round up the movie.
The acting was excellent : Ayano Go as well Shibasaki Ko who hold central roles, were both scary and painfully touching depending the angle you were looking at the story. Miura Kira played incredibly well his traumatic part and overall, I hope to see him grow into an amazing career, as kid role can sometimes make or break a movie, and here it was really well acted.
The production value was pretty good: very grey and anxiety-provoking...With images that are leaving me with lasting torturous feelings.
I would strongly recommend this to people looking for a crime thriller with a very interesting point of view. The movie can be pretty triggering so you might want to have a look at the tags. However, I feel the best way to enjoy this movie is to go in blind, not knowing what it is about. I had no clue what the story was about and it really impacted my watching experience in a positive way as I was dumbfounded and grasping with a lot of feelings.
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Cute and sweet : very shojo in its core.
This series was a breath of sweetness, each episode felt like a nice treat in a shiny packaging. The premise was definitely refreshing at first with the main lead way of dressing. However, the story felt less novel in its last arc with the script hitting all the usual beats of the standard shojo romance.Characters were very likeable which is foremost thanks to the solid acting of both main actor (Matsumoto Leo) and main actress (Osaki Ichika). Matsumoto Leo is incredible playing this multi faceted role. He really stands out and I will be looking forward for more with him. Osaki Ichika managed to make her role super endearing despite the character being quite hair-headed : she never felt annoying. The weakest point might have been the more intimate scenes, it felt so cute but at the same time I was expecting some range and evolution as the story progressed. However, the passion never really came.
I would recommend this to people looking for a very relaxing and feel good show. Even if the story is kind of classical for a shojo once you look past the interesting premise of the main lead, it never bothered me and always brought me joy to watch.
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I really disliked it : not because of the relationship nature but how devoid of feelings it was...
This movie, featuring a forbidden romance between a high school student and her English teacher, was really bad. Full disclaimer, I can enjoy (and even love !) in FICTION taboo tropes, "risqué" topics, age gaps, forbidden relationship, toxicity and a lot more of unhealthy stuff...But I really need to feel the passion and angst. And here, with this movie, it felt really lacking.The story in itself was painful to follow as I was utterly unconvinced by the romantics feelings of both leads for each other...Every romantic gestures felt very bland and at the same time irking with a constant push-pull that felt super manipulative but was not treated as such by the writing. Other than the leads, the remaining characters storylines were inexisting : it is impossible to believe in any of it because it is so bland. Being the friendship or the family affection, it all felt fake.
The acting was quite average but the chemistry was the worst of it. None of their touches made me feel anything other than cringe. There were a couple of "dead fish" kisses that left me stone-cold. It was just frustrating as I really love Yamapi since his early works. In this role, he felt robotic at best (an handsome robot but still that's not enough for the current me in Dramaland...). Komatsu Nana did not do better...As her character is supposed to be stone-faced and showing little feelings, it might be part of the reason why. However, even with that type of role, she totally lacked range in her acting and it felt super repetitive and boring.
Production was quite average, I don't remember finding any scenes outstanding in any way and I found the soundtrack quite bad. Maybe the music (and the sound overall) felt of so poor quality because I was not feeling the romance. Even the ending song left me a bad impression.
I would not recommend this at all to people. Because of how familiar the beginning of the movie felt, I vaguely remembered while watching it reading the manga (or at least part of it) : I either dropped it or have no memories of completing it, which clearly shows how forgettable it was. Am I surprised that the movie did not manage to elevate the source material ? Not really...but well, they could have tried at least...
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A cute & fluffy watch when you need to put your brain off
Was this BL revolutionary ? Certainly not. Was it (overly) sweet and so sugary I thought my teeth would get rotten ? Probably. Did I had a good time watching that amount of fluff ? Yes.In terms of storylines, nothing much happened, it is just a story about a group of friends college students falling in love. It feels very similar to a lot of Thai BL production featuring the same kind of story but it is very charming ! The series does not hold a lot of substance, but the various couples in it had me swooning. Even Teerak, the central character with a super childish personality, was quite endearing to me...Which is quite a surprise as those kind of characters can get very annoying.
Casting definitely influenced positively my enjoyment of the series. Indeed, I watched previously DMD Friendship S1 and S2, a TV Show with the objective of creating new BL pairings for future DoMunDi TV Production dramas, and 3 of those new pairs were featured in Your Sky! I was therefore quite invested into watching the actors playing the main couple and the two secondary couples. It was really satisfying to see the outcome of the TV Show take life on screen and it participated a lot in my watching experience. Not all had the same screen time nor the same acting skills level, but overall I was quite fond of all of them. If I had to choose my MVP, it would be Auau but I will be on the lookout for the next dramas with those actors.
I would recommend this to people looking for a sweet BL. It is not original at all and recycles a lot of over-used storylines in Thai BL realm but it is very charming. The chemistry between the actors is good, and even if some of the acting is quite green, I was pretty happy to watch it as I was very invested into watching the new BL pairings formed by DMD Friendship S1 and S2.
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Pretty moment but lacking logic...Felt more like an ad than a well-thought conclusion
A very needed epilogue that has the same flaws as the main series. with the writing being very weak and making not much sense. It has quite a bit of fanservice and at least provide a more complete conclusion to the drama even if I was still not convinced by the actors chemistry.That being said, Kou Wei Long is super pretty and charismatic, I would be curious to see him in something else...
I would not recommend this necessarily to people...But as it is only 9 minutes, if you have made it through the drama, you might as well watch the SP to get the full picture on the endgame of the romance.
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