Joker007

Surprisingly interesting drama

I didn't expect much when I started watching this drama but ended up finishing it within two days without skipping between scenes etc because show is presented such way if it's skipped we will end up missing something as things are connected explanation to a scene before will be given in another scene later like what happened after that scene etc.
There is romance, but it's not the main part of the story, there are Lesbian/Gay supporting characters but don't expect romance like other dramas, I thought reporter friend of FL character would be wasted but as the story progressed she played her part, I liked the friendship shared between ML character & Maggie, also liked her character better than reporter girl, there is a kiss scene between the reporter girl & Maggie which is better than the one shared by the leads because it's hard to say they even kissed. Romance between the girls take an unexpected turn as story progress, but it's not bad it went that way though, as they have their reasons for choosing what they did.
As for story, it centres around Female lead's character who is a lawyer, the cases she handles are interesting but unlike other law dramas don't expect courtroom scenes presented in a glamorous way but rather it's normal courtroom scenes we see FL defending her client and judges hearing the case and later giving their verdict, this drama intention is to give good message to its viewers regarding various issues dealt in the cases like girl forced to get married, pregnant lady getting fired, After death of lover his gay partner getting sued by his family for the wealth, case about a factory worker, case in which male teacher molests a male student, it's hard for me to explain everything so just mentioned this cases to show that the drama is trying to take this cases and show issues faced by various parties in these cases, and how law is used in all this to help the victims etc.
ML character is a minister, and he ends up meeting FL in different situations during his work and later how both of them handle the issues faced by many characters in the story etc.
Also liked the relationship between FL & her daughter, there was a funny scene where FL dreams her daughter asking her who is her father, and we see her in wedding dress among her ex, ML, co-worker and the masked online friend, there was another scene where ML was with an older lady while he is working two female colleagues comes laughing and tells them about them catching the guys watching porn then suddenly that talks leads to talk regarding sex education and how to make law regarding porn etc, I liked how the scene was handled it was a just random scene, but they made that scene a meaningful one for the viewers regarding that topic.
I liked the scenes with the leads, how the interactions between them leads to romance and FL chat with her online friend and the revelation as to who that friend is. The show is different from most Thai dramas that just go the slap/kiss route, even when it's a different genre.
This drama is unlike other Thai dramas no slaps, cursing, beating in the extreme manner or dragging story with pointless things etc, it contains a story that deals with social issues etc and tried to present that in an entertaining manner.
For me, the story was interesting, the cast did well, I liked FL performance in the show first time watching her drama as for ML have seen Kularb Tud Petch enjoyed it, being the reason for selecting this one but ended up liking FL performance as well, liked presentation of Maggie character as well as the daughter character, there was even talks about esports in the drama as one of the character is interested in esports. Most parents don't consider gaming as something good, so even adding that into drama might throw a positive light on selecting gaming as a career for some.
I am not good at writing reviews but decided to write, so anyone interested in the drama know what to expect from the drama.

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Started predictable but got better in record time

First few episodes were heavy with familiar tropes like successful lead who gets married but loses everything & FL who is his wife wants to kill him because she thinks he killed her father, FL loves him & knows he can't be the murderer but still hurts him ends up poisoning him etc, but after they resolve their conflicts in record c drama time story starts to get better & better with each episode, interesting cases, good mystery, nice acting, good music, likeable Second leads no triangles etc. Just solving cases, it gets entertaining, it's not the best ever, but it managed to break away from the trope laden pit most c dramas fails to, usually for C dramas or any dramas first few episodes will be great then after that quality starts to decline, but for this drama story started in a way most will think it will be bad, but then it starts to improve with each episode.
Important characters don't break their characters unnaturally for story purposes.
Even I was biased with this drama but ended up enjoying it & managed to finish it, leads are married but don't expect heavy romance. Story centres around ML, but the main characters are together in all episodes for solving cases etc.
Reason for giving high ratings, mainly for breaking from tropes early on & not torturing viewers with extreme frustrating elements, plus good story, music, likeable main characters & supporting characters, important characters don't break their characters & start acting weird.

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One of the best K dramas I have watched

I enjoyed watching this show from start to end, it's rare to see a drama getting better and better with each episode, characters in the show are used well they are not in it for the sake of it, cast did well especially Lee Joon gi was at his best in this drama.
Relationship between ML & his family, his sister and fake mother in the sense some scene we feel she is actually the mother she even had a good interaction with Ml's daughter, it was hard to say one character is pure evil except the real baddies in the show. Even that cop character ie friend of FL he was interesting his character was not in the show for the sake of it, each character in the show that is important to the story were used well.
I enjoyed it so much watched it 3 times and still planning to watch whenever get time and feel to watch.

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I was biased, when I first saw the name of the drama Joy of life I thought it was some boring drama, I like Chinese costume dramas some of them were good and interesting to watch, so I decided to give it a try last year and started, and I was really shocked to find the show turned out far better than expected never watched something like this, male lead is shown weak when the story starts, but he is very smart, and he is living a protected life, and he decides to leave there.
I am writing this review from my memory, so after a rewatch will update it more.
Things I liked about this show, story is very interesting it never gets boring have lots of twist and turns, great cast and better acting good background music, interesting characters, my favourite scene was when male lead meets the emperor, and he talks about poetry and that he know about things from another world when he is challenged by a master there he starts reciting the poetry that scene is excellent and well performed by male lead, this show was the place he could show his acting talent, don't if any other actor could have done this better.
I liked his relationship with his sister and scenes with them together, the female lead sadly at least in season 1 has nothing big to do other than being love interest of the male lead.
Best part is that unlike most c dramas, this one doesn't waste time dragging the story adding unnecessary scenes etc even if viewer might feel the story world is dark and danger is hiding in every corner and death can happen any time the show don't turn depressing they don't waste time focusing more on bad guys winning or making male lead weak, male lead faces challenges and viewers might feel he might lose, but he uses his wits to overcome crisis.
Interesting part is male lead has better chemistry with Saintess Duo Duo than female lead, also liked the interactions with Si Li Li.
This show is one of the best costume dramas I have watched, along with Sword Snow Stride, both of them are must watch for fans of wuxia/fantasy/martial arts genre.
I heard it's a Trilogy and season 2 is not here yet, I might just read the novel.

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Wasted Potential

Watching this one was a waste of time, the best part of this series Sougo Tokiwa actor did a fantastic job in portraying his role without him this would have been very hard to finish, First episode was interesting after that it was not that great then it started to get interesting with Kamen rider ninja, space KR & other future Kamen rider arc, it's more like fan serivce, nostalgia etc. gives proper ending to Kamen Rider blade. Kamen rider Agito, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva arc were done well, another saving grace addition of Decade who plays a major role in the show, after all this when everything gets revealed like who is the main bad guy what was their purpose it's like meh, this show has some good parts done well other than that nothing good to offer, might be the worst Heisei Era show when it comes to the story dept, fan service and nostalgia part is superb.
Reason for saying this is not great they failed in telling a compelling story, this could have been the best Heisei Era show if it was done well had all the ingredients for the best Kamen Rider show but looked like they didn't know what to do with all those ingredients.
Noteworthy characters Sougo & woz would be the best, Decade as best supporting character, time jackers were interesting especially the blue one who felt more energetic. One time watch with a lot of skipping, no worries won't miss anything imp skipping most parts.

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Must watch Heisei era Kamen Rider show

Kamen Rider Agito story starts after events of Kuuga ends, they have a shared universe, it was supposed to be a sequel to Kuuga, but they didn't go with that but still feels like it's the same world.
The show has better characters and has likeable Kamen Riders, an interesting story from start to end. My only complaint felt like Ozawa Sumiko should have been used more than that irritating character, but even then he is less irritating than Masato Kusaka who is the reigning champ when it comes to irritating viewers with their antics.
Story is simple in a typical SMT or persona style Humans fighting God who oppose human evolution or freedom, God is the bad guy, and has two version dark and light, light gives power to humans which dark creator of humans don't like who tries to kill every evolved humans, execution of this premise is done well, never felt bored or frustrated while watching the series despite having 51 episodes which is rare for a Kamen Rider show with more episodes.

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Interesting premise, in this one Kamen Riders have to battle among each other and only one of them can make it to the end, so it gets depressing in some areas, but can't say it's bad, but the ending is not that great, if there are 50 episodes then they should try their best to come up with a better ending good or bad, after watching this and few other Kamen Rider shows personally feel like they should try to end the series within 25–35 episodes, unless there is something interesting going on like in the case of KR Build don't go for more than 40–50 episodes, because that 10 episodes mostly is a torture to watch, same happened while watching Kamen Rider Zero-one which was very entertaining till episode 40 and felt they should have ended there, instead there were 5 more episodes which was pointless like forcing more battles and unnecessary bad end for one character and story ends with introduction of new bad guy portrayed by a popular actor. Just my personal though on this series, even after going with 40–50 episodes some of the shows don't even have a proper ending, some starts great then slow down badly after 25 episodes. At least Ryuki is better than Kamen Rider Zi-O even with that ending.
Some might feel Ryuki is weak or a comic relief sort of character, but surprisingly he rises to the occasion, he wants to stop the battle and save everyone but the battle is set up in such a way it's impossible to achieve that goal, so due to this Ryuki might feel weak or not cool but as story progress he makes an impact on others, also he sort of becomes a punching bag for everyone in the show, despite that he is likeable, even everyone calls him stupid or makes fun of him he never gets depressed.
Also, Kamen Riders use cards to fight in this one, like pokemon they catch a monster and use it to fight for them except two characters everyone else only use one monster. Kamen Rider Ouja is interesting, he enjoys fighting, have no issue killing others even Ryuki wanted to kill him in one episode surprisingly in an episode one girl gets saved by Ouja and those episodes show how the character is more than just plain wicked, so that part was interesting. Then there is Kamen Rider Zolda another character that might seem bad but ends up surprising others with his action sometimes he ends up doing more good than bad, there were no irritating characters in this series, even if some are bad their actions were not irritating, they did what they wanted to. Also when it comes to negative characters, prefer Kamen Rider Ouja over Kamen Rider Kaixa, in the case of Ouja he was bad guy till end sometimes his actions were better than all the actions of Kamen Rider Kaixa.

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Show turned out to be interesting and gets a proper ending to the story.
Suit designs was interesting, story was presented better than some Heisei era Kamen Rider shows, likeable characters, even bad guys story arc is interesting & had no issue finishing the show, usually some KR shows loses its steam after 30-40 episodes & sometimes feel it would have been better if story concluded within 30–40 episodes, some even fail to end the story even with 50 episodes, later need more specials & films or even many years to end the series properly.
Not a fan of main KR meeting next KR near end of the show & passing the baton, Drive meeting ghost when he has a dream like sequence was not bad, but next meeting in the show was not great because it was not needed, felt like forcing one more episode after story ended prior episode.
Kamen Rider Gaim was also a good show and film feature Drive & Gaim was interesting.

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The drama is Female centered & Fl character is done well from start to end she stays that way never changes whatever the situation is, she doesn't like corruption & try to fight injustice & ML stands with her in the fight, they face many setbacks but don't give up & try harder, story don't waste time dragging & increasing frustrating elements, I think the story is presented better than most Thai dramas that deal with such scenarios, leads don't act stupid like the leads in dramas with such scenarios, they are patient & tries harder to solve the issues they face, it's slow paced but character interaction & growth is done better than most Thai dramas with similar settings. The show may not be for everyone, there is romance, but it takes time to develop, character interactions are done well.
I won't say the drama is perfect, it has issues, but it's done well compared to other dramas with similar scenarios, Fl character is done well, she is confident & don't let anyone dictate how she should handle things.

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I don't know what to say about this one, it could have been great, had an interesting concept, but the execution was lacking, story is presented in older J drama format so some parts are frustrating, like in one episode later in the series Yuka Osada (Crane Orphnoch) has a weird interaction with a troublemaker kid to calm the kid she does something weird, civilian casualties in this series is high & feel like heroes don't care much about that because they get killed even if the good guys try to save them.
What I liked some parts are great the Orphnoch trio were interesting & likeable characters, revelation regarding Faiz was great, loved the first Kamen Rider Delta (Saya Kimura) felt more powerful & cool, like stalking & hunting the prey in a scary way, when she had the Delta belt, the part where she was hiding in the tall grass and ambushed that Lucky Clover Orphnoch and the rest of the episode he was absolutely terrified. She was possibly the best user for Delta.
Start was great after the revelation regarding events that took place in the school, it slowed, introduction of Saya Kimura was great, other good parts were introduction of Dragon Orphnoch very powerful antagonist, then introduction of Arch Orphnoch etc.
This one has too much drama not in a good way, some characters are jealous, angry, manipulating, kamen rider kaixa most irritating Kamen Rider, his antics wasted few episodes & best part was when he got killed, the show tried it's best to make this character a great one near end, things he did was worse than even the antagonists of the show. In this show, Kamen Rider belt can be used by every Orphnoch. Despite a lot of issues, the show is still interesting, one time watch.

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Decade was the first KR show that I had watched, it was so interesting for me that I finished the series within few days, but sadly the series was short & story didn't conclude properly, one have to watch the movies to continue the story, but that makes it more confusing in the sense so many questions still remain unanswered, it was a weird choice, the series could have been done better if it was done well it could have been great like Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. Both are anniversary series with a central character/team who can transform into, or use the powers of, past heroes from their respective franchises & feature the main characters journeying through a multiverse of past heroes to achieve a specific goal, and they share the common theme of celebrating previous generations of heroes.
For me Kamen Rider Decade is better than Kamen Rider Zi-O but sadly Zi-O gets proper ending and more episodes than Decade, even without proper ending and other issues Decade is still better than many Heisei Era KR shows that had more episodes but test viewer patience i.e. the start is great then it drags, then around last few episodes things get interesting but for some even the last part is tiring, since I am not a hardcore tokusatsu fan who watch this series like any normal TV series so what I like may not be same for the fans of the series etc.

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I found out during watching the show it's based on, Gujian 1 game, I have yet to play Gujian 1 &2 which has no English translation but Gujian 3 has, it's one of the best Chinese games available, story was surprisingly good as well as it's gameplay, and it's told better than any Chinese drama wuxia/fantasy/xianxia genre I have watched.
So coming back to this drama story is based on first game, it has very popular cast, story takes time to progress like any 50-60 plus c dramas, Visual effects are not that great but for me, I don't mind if the story is interesting, some parts looked interesting some didn't, music was not bad, some of the supporting cast was good, but didn't like the character Fang Lan Sheng he was irritating but the actor who did that role is a good actor, but his character really tests viewers patience, the show quality would have increased more if they reduced the episodes, Romance is there, but it's light no kiss scenes, story focus on male lead and his friends and their adventure what they see, learn and how they grow and overcome difficulties etc.
Supporting characters are also given importance, they are not just there for names sake, but they also contribute to the story world, some of the story arcs were good, but main part of the story sometimes pauses and takes few episodes to continue and most of the major revelations are made after 40 episodes, show faces issues faced by any popular Chinese dramas that is 50-70 episodes long ie clichés, story getting dragged etc.
It's one time watch, maybe playing the game is better than watching the drama some issues might have happened when it was made into a drama and lost the best parts.

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Coolest & Confident Kamen Rider

Kamen Rider Geats had an interesting premise, it could have been the best, this series is different from other KR shows with lots of action, fight scenes after Geats reach his ultimate form is great.
Geats is a confident Kamen Rider who is not pushed around by other characters in the show he might be the only Kamen Rider who is powerful even in his original form because he is an experienced player who has been playing the game for a long time, not a fan of the main Kamen Rider getting pushed around by every character in the show, like the KR is their personal punching bag, he is not a loser. Geats XI form was great, the start was interesting then some parts it slowed but didn't drag, they could have explored background story of Geats, we only get to know some parts if there was a prequel movie etc. it would have been great that explores how the character ended up playing games since it was shown he has been playing longer, other characters were interesting, only time he lost his cool was when he came to know about what happened to one of his family members.
Geats would give an impression he is arrogant but in his way he supports others with him in the game, his action inspires others who are with him also interaction with other characters helps Geats as well in his journey towards his destiny, has some good fight scenes, near end when he gets to his final form the fights are super cool, this could have been the best KR show if it was executed in a better way, Kamen Rider Geats offers something different from other Kamen Rider shows.
Had no issue watching all episodes, after the show finished, wanted more.
Usually don't check the Kamen Rider films that follows after the show ends, but in the case Kamen Rider Geats films story is entertaining.

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One of the better Vampire genre K drama for me

Vampire genre in K dramas is less compared to zombie genre which gets better with each drama and even rivals western zombie films & dramas lately, but sadly for vampire genre k dramas there are only few & I dropped the Blood k drama, including this drama I only liked three other vampire k dramas that I watched.
The story of this drama revolves mainly around protag also called Night Scholar/Vampire Hunter & the Antagonist called GWI sort of elder Vampire I think if compare to western Vampire stories etc.
So this is the last Vampire K drama that I enjoyed watching, Protag becomes a Vampire as the main antagonist mortally injures the Vampire hunter who turns the protag into a Vampire to kill GWI, In this story vampire hunter is not humans but rather vampires that tries to keep their humanity, story revolves mainly around protag & the antagonist they are the main pillars of the story, if the actors who portrayed these roles didn't do a great job this would have turned into a bad & very boring drama.
Don't expect modern level Vampire action, this follows the old vampire genre style, slow paced but don't drag the story atrociously like older k dramas that increase frustration levels to max & also test viewers common sense & patience.
I liked the Vampire actions in this drama they may look old now but when this aired this was one of the best Vampire K drama I watched till that time, don't think there is any new Vampire genre K drama after this drama.
Like I mentioned above drama is slow paced and takes it's time to introduce the characters, story world etc, there is a lot of talking between characters and skipping can cause losing some important information regarding story, you will see GWI talking a lot he will reveal some info regarding his past and the people he met his lover etc, I have watched this drama more than 2–3 times and currently rewatching again this time gave more attention to GWI conversation and his interactions with other characters including Night Scholar aka main protag, in some scene we feel GWI might have some kindness next scene he does some brutal killing despite being hated he doesn't want to turn second female lead who works for ML, even tells her becoming a vampire with a heart is not easy one can die or turn into a bloodthirsty vampire etc, SFL aka the queen she looks like Night scholars old lover she has her plans in one scene we might think she is planning something next scene we see her human side, I think almost every cast in the show did well, compared to older k dramas or even some new ones this story is interesting till end, there is a start and end, most k dramas gets a great start then start getting bad and by the end viewer might start hating the show.
This is one of the better Korean Vampire genre drama. The drama has some good music, but sadly they have not used the music well to make some scenes even better like the scene where Night scholar loses his black cloth, and he has to save FL in the morning, I think the production tried to reduce the budget or go with low budget, so everything in this drama depends on the performance of the actors, the best part of the show is performance of the cast.

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