Kannadin

WTF was that?

I have a new synonym for "Complete Waste of Time" ==> Funouhan aka Impossibility Defense or as I'd rather call it "Impossible Crime" which is the literal translation of the title and makes much more sense. It's been years I haven't watched something so terrible or random or... I don't even know what to say... Just that I'm flabbergasted that I've sat through this whole ordeal with the hope that this would lead somewhere...

Anywhere.

I'm PISSED because I usually only manage to have a bit less than 2 hours to watch anything per day (basically when I'm eating) and today's treat has been wasted on this dumpster fire.

Watched it on Viki where the Ratings is incredibly low for the platform (8.4) but I naively thought that since most viewers on Viki are women... they tend to lean more towards romance and crime/thrillers usually have less audience which might explain the ratings.

Haha. My Bad. I should have checked the comment section.

I think the best comment I read for this movie is from:

@KuroSteve "I guess most of the actors were young and needed the money ... –_–"

Will I ever bother to watch the prequel ( not available on Viki for now): NO
Will I ever bother to read the manga: NOPE

Terrible as a stand-alone and even worse as something supposed to make you interested in the original manga.

To you, poor naive soul who has gotten lost on MDL and want to find a good Japanese thriller... This is NOT the one. Do yourself a service and find something else.

If you're still curious, well, at least I've done my duty. You've been warned.

If I could rate this show below 0, that would be a minus 10.

PS: Yeah I know the suggested rating is higher... but no way in hell am I giving this more than 1.

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Terribly Formulaic.

So I wasn't planning on writing any review for this show... but since the only review currently available is in French, I thought I'll make the effort for those of you who don't speak the language. If you speak French, I direct you to read Kenseiden's review which is way better written than what you're about to read. For the record, I'm also French... so don't expect my prose to be as compelling as his in English.

So this is a live action adapted from a 22 volumes manga. Now. I'm personally not familiar with the manga itself. Never heard of it before so given the title I was expecting some form of puzzle game à la Liar Game ( of which I've read the manga and watched the 2014 K drama adaptation but not the Japanese one). This review is hence solely and purely based on the live adaptation itself.

The first episode started great. It looked good and it felt expensive... I thought I was in for a high budget wild ride.

...
My... Was I mistaken.
This feels very cheap... All the budget must have gone to produce the first episode, the last 3 minutes of the show and the demons/devils CGIs.

Very quickly this shounen adaptation fell into a very repetitive formula which very flat and boring directing didn't help and led me quickly to a state of ultimate boredom. 1 episode = 1 game + 1 new friend or friendly foe. This is a genre that I usually enjoy. Japanese are usually pretty good at turning something pretty boring on the outside, into something exciting... particularly when it comes to mind puzzles. Unfortunately not this time.

If you manage to get past the 4/5 first episodes ( so HALF the drama), things pick up a bit and though the formula is still the same, there's enough new plots thrown into the mix to keep things mildly more interesting. But not that much.

The series must have stayed pretty faithful to its source material because unfortunately we also get the usual shounen manga style acting that don't always match well with live actions. I'm still not really sure it worked well here but I'd say it's 50/50. By the time I reached the end, I was no longer as annoyed with the over the top anime like acting of the actors as I was when I started the show.

More importantly, good adaptations require sometimes that you let go of some of the shounen clichés such as: revelation no jutsu, talk no jutsu, family trauma no jutsu, the power of friendship no jutsu, the final useless talk no jutsu, the blahblahblahblah no jutsu ( to fill the minute and create some tension in the cheap background that looks like my garage, if I had a garage), the let's be friends forever even if we've met only once and you're an asshole no jutsu, the friendship/rivalry no jutsu, the useless butler no jutsu, the I'm better than you back-and-forth-useless-dialogues no jutsu, I'm turning evil so I change my clothes and haircut no jutsu, the power of friendship is the only thing you need to save the world no jutsu, the savior syndrome no jutsu, the sacrifice no jutsu AH I forgot the I-tell-you-my-life-sob-story no jutsu because I need you to understand where I'm coming from because it would be too long in a manga to draw and too expensive in a live action to film... no jutsu.

Of course this ACMA game... has err.... Games. And as usual in the genre, comprises of lots of strategies that are easier to follow in written format than on TV. I tried to, but as per usual at some point the strategies got so convoluted ( and the characters remember everything because... err Shounen no jutsu, inhumane memory no jutsu and shut up it's a manga no jutsu), I switched my brain off and kept on reading my subtitles mindlessly... no jutsu.

And yeah you might be irritated to read my review no jutsu... But seriously this live action oozes "shounen" from every single pores of its body if it had any. And I get it. It's a live action... But a good live action is an adaptation. What works in a manga/anime doesn't necessarily work with live actors. You ADAPT. And I struggle to see where they adapted anything except for the budget and removing a lot of the original story.

Most of the plot twists were expected though I didn't see the "BIG" plot twist in episode 9 coming. Arguably most people would have seen it miles away but it was just too big a cliché for me to predict. Should have kept my guard up. No amount of plot twists could save this live action though.

In conclusion:

Was it a bad show? Err... I honestly don't know. I don't see it as bad because it is a shounen. Shounen are made to be exciting... But if you're already very familiar with the genre... this one doesn't feel fresh, it's an old recipe that's been done and done again except that it is without directing flair so even its most exciting parts felt either boring, bland or both. Some of the clichés will make you roll your eyes. The final episode ends as it started: with a lot of predictable plot twists which you probably have seen coming miles away and hence just felt like lazy writing.
Reaching the final ten minutes, I started to wonder if this wasn't a shounen parody.
It felt like a manga that was literally riding on a popular trend at the time it was written without any effort to bring something original to the mix and a live action just as lazy, which didn't bother to adapt it well to fit its format.

Would I recommend it? NO

Did I have fun watching it?

Err It depends... I was bored for the first 4/5 episodes but once I understood that this would be filled to the brim with clichés, I started to enjoy making fun of the show... Do you know? It's the feeling you get when you're watching what we call in French a "nanar" : a show that's so bad, it's good.

So my final rating will be a 7. Don't trust the individual notes I gave because I just made it so that it reached 7. The best rating that was suggested from the ones I had originally entered was a 6... But honestly the show got so fun in its ridiculousness that I think it deserves a good 7 for the laugh.

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A Fun Ride but skip it if you're only interested in the Romance

That was such an entertaining show ^^

I wouldn't call it best of the year, but it definitely did its job well... There was a couple of plot holes due to writing convenience at times... or lack of time (especially the last 2 episodes) such as Hae Seong being fired from NIS than being cleared and reinstated God knows when since everything happened in a very short timeframe.
My biggest complain would be the chairwoman... Kim Shin Rok was terrific in her role but too cartoonishly evil for my taste. I wish we knew a bit more about her background, because that would have made her evil behavior not more acceptable but at least understandable. We were given crumbs of explanations here and there but nothing to fully empathize with her character and which Ye Na "accepting" her mom just... I don't know?

The epilogue felt a bit lackluster... due to time constraint... But I was psychologically prepared. There was no way I'd be satisfied unless the final episode was at least 1h and a half but this wasn't that show.

On a shallow note, Seo Kang Hoon was an eye candy from start to finish EXCEPT for this awful hairstyle in the final scene. I don't understand why they had to change HIS hairstyle when Soo Ah's wasn't changed. The Fudge?

Anyway, a solid 8.5. Thoroughly entertained in spite of some flaws. I doubt we'll ever get a second season... and I' d rather we stayed on this high note... But if they ever do one I'll be tuning in ^^

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A draggy Thai Makjang with a lot of useless meandering nonsense.

NOTE : This was originally a comment I edited which I decided to erase and post in the review section since as of now, there’s only one review about this show and the comment was overly long.

Note 2 : If it’s too long for you, skip to the conclusion.

LONG A** REVIEW AHEAD

Apart from the very draggy middle (a staple for Lakorns apparently) , I think this drama's biggest flaw is how cartoonishly evil the Uncle is. He's so one-dimensional, at some point my irritation level got so high, I had to remind myself, this was a drama, and I could drop this if I wanted.
After all no one held me at gun point, there was no need to subject myself to voluntary raise my blood pressure IN MY FREE TIME.

BUT, since I’m an idiot, and I’d already dropped ALL the thai dramas I tried to watch since last December, I held on. As mentioned, I am an IDIOT after all.

Otherwise it's actually a pretty good show compared to most lakorns I've attempted to watch. Notice that I’ve wrote “compared to”.

I think their storylines are interesting as long as you're not allergic to toxic MLs but they always include some draggy meandering nonsense in the middle.

The ML is not toxic here but let's just say, there's quite a number of romanticized problematic behaviors in lots of Lakorns (to be fair MOST romance in fiction almost always include some problematic behaviors especially in Asian media, it's just that I find it's even more the case for Thai content compared to their Chinese/Japanese or Korean counterparts)...

I'm a sucker for toxic MLs IN FICTION ( gotta stress that one really) so fine by me but I have more trouble with the draggy additional useless plot points that often comes with the genre.

I think this explains why the overall ratings here is 7.5.

Also, the romance aspect is mostly during the first half of the series... Once Mind learns the truth, the series has a tonal shift and the romance just takes a huge step back. The Lakorn only focus on how they bring down the villain but almost all the romance is out the window... Which is too bad because both actors had great chemistry in the beginning, and I think most people would tune in for the tension between the lead especially during the period where Mind doesn’t know who he is…

They could have made such a great enemies to lovers story there… With Mind being attracted in spite of herself to her nemesis, believing he’s her mother’s murderer and the son of her fiance’s killer, as well as Pat believing the love of his life betrayed him for money and had decided to join his murderer’s family when he literally crossed the ocean to get her back. It could have been SUCH a powerful inner conflict (to be fair, the drama gloss over it… when it should have been the most important conflict – and appeal - in my opinion).

SUCH.WASTED.OPPORTUNITY.


It could have been a great thriller with romantic tension... and instead we spend most of our time with the evil uncle and his evil assistant so it ended being a poor attempt at both genres.

I love Film though and it was my first time watching Min. Both were great in their roles… which is why I’m really saddened we didn’t get more of the sizzling tension of the first 4 episodes.

The character of Emika… was very well written up to episode 15… and then she took a turn for the worse. While given the circumstances, one can understand why she made that choice… needless to say, the Uncle and his right-hand man Phasu were already irritating enough, I don’t think we needed a good character to play against their own team for some last ditch plot point to lengthen this overly long series especially when this choice of hers led to heavy consequences which could have easily been avoided if she hadn’t acted so selfishly.
There’s nothing wrong with a good character being flawed… but the way she’d been written by that point, guilt should have driven her to quickly change her stance as soon as faced with the heavy consequences of her action… But contrary to how she’d been portrayed i.e a caring and loving wife who’d stand by her husband no matter what even if she didn’t understand his choices, she felt no guilt and kept on her charade. Funny how she turned as controlling of her husband’s nasty piece of sh*** of a father once she understood things would not go her way. Again she had a good reason for it, but it ran contrary to her character. Fortunately, the drama was almost finished by then so that last ditch nonsense was quickly resolved before they had the chance to make her stray too far.

#You_ruined_Emika_but_I’m_so_tired_already_I_don’t_care

This character deserved better. But I guess, they needed to ruin her image a bit so that we could root guilt-free for the main pair to get together by the end… as if they needed that for us to root for them but whatev.

Ah yeah, almost forgot… There’s a second couple nobody gives a fudge about. I don’t even understand why they tried to force some romance between both these characters if it wasn’t to deliver on it after but whatever… I guess it made the episodes longer. These two had literally NO chemistry whatsoever. Maybe they wanted to add another couple to try to justify the romance tag… Because I sure didn’t get my dose.

It's quite a stressful watch though albeit predictable. Some stuffs made me raise my eyebrows to my hairline as well (such as one character being hurt at the head and being shown being "operated on" [the whole intervention looked SO FAKE]… on his belly with no head wound visible) but as the first reviewer wrote “It’s a Lakorn so why not”… so errr. OK I guess.

Not like this series was really aiming for coherency in the first place. It’s a “just watch, enjoy the ride and don’t ask too many questions” type of show.

Pretty reminiscent of early K dramas of the early 2000s ( I remember Memory loss being so overused back then, it became a private joke between K drama aficionados)

I wouldn't recommend that one unless you're the type of person who doesn't mind fast forwarding episodes.
I’m not… so I’ve watched every single second of that show at normal speed, and I can tell you, past episode 6, it starts to slow down and after that It’s a draggy journey to the finish line.

By the time I finished the drama I was just exhausted of the whole ordeal with none love left for the show.

Also not the kid's fault but I hate whenever he had to talk. It's very obvious he was reciting his lines. When you have to make such a young child act, it's better to avoid making them talk too much. He's supposed to be endearing, yet he just comes out as being irritating and whinny…

The whole “Mommy” and “Daddy” thing... when It’s obvious, this kid doesn’t speak a single word of English, was reaaaaaaaally awkward. That didn’t help the ordeal either. He speaks entirely in Thai anyway. Let him call his parents แม่ and พ่อ like every Thai, that would have been way less cringe.

I almost skipped his scenes all together.


In spite of me writing more about the bad points, the show had this going for them: It definitely was not boring. Most episodes were around 50 minutes instead of the usual 1hour 10+ minutes episodes I’ve seen in quite a lot of Lakorns so that made the series more easily accessible.

It’s not that there was nothing happening. Rather TOO much happening, for absolutely NO overall progression plotwise. As written above, it was a whole lot of meandering nonsense which only point was to show how evil and manipulative the Uncle is… but the main conflict which was… how to bring down the villain, goes round and round 13 episodes out of 18.


CONCLUSION


So… Would I recommend that one?
NO.

Not even to pass the time. Main issue is: It’s too draggy for a suspenseful thriller and there’s not enough fluff for romance lovers.

It fails at both.

The only reason I would recommend this show is if you’re a die-hard fan of Film or Min or you’re really into Korean Makjang.

You know the type. Old family dramas of the 2000s, with secret births, lots of twists and turns that go nowhere for 50 episodes, villains getting away with literally everything and a whole lot of suspension of disbelief needed. ( I assure you though… the main culprit here get what he deserves… BUT some characters who contributed to his ascension literally get a free pass… and one who was especially vile even get some form of sympathy pass from the drama [YEAH… SURE]).

Makjangs are not necessarily bad… But the issue is if it’s a lot of twists and turns only for the sake of shock value but without any or little progression plotwise for too long, the audience can grow tired and end up disconnected from the show… Which is what happened to me here.

This being said, there’s efforts made to keep viewers entertained… I haven’t seen enough Lakorns yet to judge how it fares compared to others… but compared to K dramas (not the makjang type)…

Well… Even being generous… It’s difficult for me to rate that one above 6,5 . AND… I don’t feel generous at present. So that’s a 6 because of how I got a whole bunch of nonsensical plotpoints and not enough fluff between the leads to make this whole ordeal worth the 18 hours of my life I wasted.

If it was a K dramas… I’d probably rate this between a 3 and a 4.5… Or rather I’d probably have already dropped it by episode 11/12. Only reason why I hung on was because of my “language quota” (long story).

But Thai productions, albeit for a few exceptions, are not yet on par with China, South Korea or Japan… so I feel it would be unfair to rate them based on the same criteria…

Also I have read it somewhere else but somebody suggested an "enjoyment" bar should be added to the ratings on MDL because you don't need a masterpiece to have a good time and while I found this show overly draggy, I still enjoyed myself enough to finish it because both main actors really made me root for their characters.
That's the only reason I ended up not being too harsh on this show. The overall suggested ratings here is 5... But considering the most important criteria for me which is "enjoyment", that's definitely a 6... There were times when it dropped to a 4... But no matter how much I think about it, I don't want to give it less than 6... because yes it was draggy, but at least they tried and resolved all the plot points they threw at us by the end of the show... Something, lots of dramas fail to do betraying their audience.

I’d probably would have rated it a 7 or 7,5, if we had 10 less episodes… But I guess it wouldn’t be a Lakorn otherwise.

THIS BEING SAID, I hate Makjang in general (unfortunately there’s no « Makjang » tag on MDL otherwise I’d have avoided this show). If you’re the type to appreciate the genre…
You’ll probably enjoy this so don’t let my long rant deter you for giving it a try…

However if you’ve started this and you feel the same as I by episode 7/8…

Well, just so you know. It doesn’t get better, so trust me, and save the remaining time for a better show.


PS: Also... Dunno who is the stylist, I usually really don't pay attention to fashion overall but I did notice that Min's clothes were just all the time pretty gorgeous and fitted her figure pretty well. Gotta give credits when it’s due.

PS2 : As per usual in most Thai dramas I’ve watched… the sound quality was awful especially when characters were shouting. I don’t know the expression in English but the sound felt « saturated ». There were even times when when characters talked, you’d have some additional parasitic sounds on top which was even more noticeable when you had music in the background.

PS3: Also Thailand… Can you please stop casting dark skinned actors only in negative roles? My God, I’m so tired of all that Colorism nonsense.

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Another great one from Be On Cloud but this is NOT A ROMANCE.

WARNING : NO SPOILERS But some mild comments which will be separated by lines from the rest of the review.

There was no way they could have given this series a satisfactory ending if not for that one. Although it's bittersweet and a couple of threads could have been better tied up.
One thing I'd like to warn about however is, if you're looking for romance.... this is not the right show. Not that there's not any but it's honestly not the heart of the drama... though they did give some fan service here and there esp. in the final episode in spite of the lack of NC scenes (in the final episode).

____________________________________________

Great was never great but by the time we reached the end of this journey, he had learned to be better. I'm mostly sad for Tonkla, but he crossed a line he should never had. At least Korn redeemed himself though not by choice but because he was driven to it.

____________________________________________

The show was made confusing on purpose and it's one of those that it's better not to know anything about before you start, but at the same time, that confusion is probably what the character we mostly follow felt.

"Why Don't You Stay" was my favorite song in Kinnporsche so it was pretty nice to hear it sung in another voice in the final episode.
Overall a great watch. I personally don't mind NC scenes as long as there's no violence involved ( BDSM or whatever is a BIG NO), some are relatively graphic so it might have hurt some people's sensitivities but personally I watched it for the story so whether there were NC scenes or not didn't make a difference... though I do think some of the earlier scenes with Tonkla felt too gratuitious.

Honestly, I still feel a bit overwhelmed, so I don't know how to write anything coherent apart from that I loved that show from its very first minute and that it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout its 8 weeks long run.
I have nothing but praise for the actors and for the whole crew who worked on this little gem which are SO SO SO RARE in Thai BLs.

Bible delivered but I was confident he'd pull it off, but Jes, Fuaiz, and Bas were nice discoveries. I'll keep on following their next projects whether they act together again or not.

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CUTE and RELAXING

CONS:

1. Series feel very slow at the beginning.
2. Fake kisses with mouth moving in the emptiness, no tongue and not-so-clever use of camera angles. The KISSES SUCK. I'm sorry. I like to have good kisses when watching my ROMANCE.
3. Some very irritating characters. They get better but you do have to "suffer them" for quite a number of episodes before they turn around.
4. Shitty ending. As mentioned by everybody just skip the last 10 minutes or so if you want to forget it... Honestly I watched it and it's easily skippable. You won't be missing anything, but it's not as terrible as people have made it out to be, if you're mentally prepared.
5. Useless and unfair breakup in ep 19. FL lied as well, I still don't understand in what way exactly the ML was more at fault.
6. End of Ep 20 to beginning of episode 23. The Show is turning all dramatic for no good reason. It feels like, like in many C dramas, they don't want us to have even the slightest of slightest of second lead syndrome so they had to completely ruin Yi Tian Yu's character. SML deserved a better treatment.

PROS:

1. Adorable and easy to root for leads.
2. Lots of skinship in spite of the fake kisses.
3. Both leads bring the best out of each other, though the FL benefits more from the ML than the opposite.
4. Relaxing show. Not too much angst, but not nothing happening either.

CONCLUSION

I would say the pros count double in my book. Not extraordinary compared to other dramas in the genre... If you don't watch it you won't miss much... But if you do, it's a very relaxing show. As far as Modern drama MLs go, Lin Zhi Hua is top tier.

Best watched without binging at a leisurely pace. Watch this after a shitty day at work/school, it will bring a smile to your face.
Worth the time invested.

Suggested rating: 7.5
Personal rating: 8

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Nice to pass the time but forgettable

Hmm... Well again I'm not the target audience so... Here's my 2 cents:

Story 1: Honestly the weakest story of the lot. Maybe young male teenagers can relate but an almost 40 year-old woman I find the whole thing barely watchable. That would be a 3.5 from me.

Story 2: Cute romance but pretty flat. Acting from FL and ML was pretty good. I had already seen Ryeo Un in previous projets before that one and was pretty surprised when he got cast on such a "small drama". Nothing new though. I think this story will probably appeal to female teenagers and early 20 something but it failed to resonate with me... Probably because there's no nostalgic feel or whatever. Still average cute. Not bad, but not extraordinary either. So Okayish... 7

Story 3: Strangely unlike most comments, I found that story much more engaging. Probably because at the core, it's more about a slightly overweight girl who has to learn self-love before seeking to be loved from an outsider and seek validation from it... Something that lots of people fail to do even way after their teenage years.

This being said, from the very first minute you could tell this is not really a fat girl. Sure, she's got weight... But you don't have legs like that unless you're a fairly active girl. This girl has very strong and firm muscles under that layer of fat, this is the body of a sporty girl who just happens to be overweight. On the other side, her "nemesis" is just skinny with no muscle mass. I've drawn a fair share of naked bodies so I could immediately tell, than there is that dance in the last episode which confirmed what I thought.

Asia has an obsession about skinny bodies but skinny doesn't necessarily equals "healthy". And while having too much fat is obviously unhealthy... in the case of this girl, she doesn't belong in the unhealthy category... although she'd probably better lose a few pounds just for her joints. Your body won't mind the extra fat when you're young, sporty and active.... but past your prime, your joints are going to give you hell.

Anyway, I met the same type of b*** in middle and high school but from shared experience with lots of people I've met in life, the general conclusion is people who were really popular in high school rarely end up having the best lives once into adulthood. Probably because they spent too much time chasing popularity instead of real skills.

Anyway, that's a solid 8.5 for the last story...

Rounded it up that's a 6.5 overall.

Last story best of the 3 which is surprising given everybody was more into the 2nd one... But again, I think one's appreciation of this will really depend on how old you are.

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EPIC

Really enjoyed it but I don't think I would have if it wasn't for the first movie.

I didn't care much for Kyoukai's life story. As ridiculous as it was ( I mean literally Shin is running around everywhere fighting here and there with barely any sleep nor food for days and the guy is still as pumped up as when he started his journey) and as obnoxiously LOUD Shin was (typical of MANY Male manga characters), it was EPIC.

The battles were impressive but my brain couldn't switch off the fact that all these generals are literally sending people to the slaughterhouse in order to get brownie points from the King. It's all in the name of uniting Qin, but the truth is, they all want the glory, the fame, the personal army, castle and money that comes with it.

I usually flee from war stories because they're just pretty sad overall, for me it's just mindless killing for this or that King. People at the bottom honestly don't care about who rules but they sure pay the price whenever a new lord wants his own little kingdom...

This being said, it is refreshing to see a show that focus on the big lines in history book. Forget the deaths count, just enjoy the ride through the lens of those at the top and a nutcase who has a big dream. I wish I had seen this in a movie theater though. The scale of the battle and the insane castles are worth the investment. A small screen just doesn't give it justice.

Anyway. Count me in for Movie Number 3.

A solid 9.

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A Great introduction to a grand story

Kingdom is based on of the many manga I've bought and which... I haven't gotten around to read due to lack of time. Seriously there's 70 volumes already published in my country, I have all of them and I haven't read a single one.

By the same token, from what I remember the anime already has 5 seasons... and I haven't watched a single one yet.

Only bought the series because it is apparently popular so I didn't know anything of its story.
Since I've been burned by Japanese live actions I don't know how many times before, I was really wary about this one, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I thought it delivered an entertaining story with lots of action and a hero easy to root for. The fighting scenes were a bit too long for my taste. We get a useless "comic relief" in the character of Ten that I just couldn't care about and it was honestly a bit weird to have subtitles in which the names were spelled in Pinyin when characters are pronouncing them the Japanese way. Sometimes the Japanese and Chinese pronunciations were pretty close, and other time not at all, but I got used to it at some point.

I've seen several projects by Yamazaki Kento, all live actions and didn't think much of them because honestly... well they sucked. But checking my list, I realized all the projects he acted in which I hated were from the beginning of his carreer. I haven't seen a single project of his in the last 5 years that I disliked. He seems to be choosing his projects more carefully now and I'm starting to feel, he's slowly but surely becoming my favorite Japanese actor.

Anyway it had some minor flaws but I was thoroughly entertained and it made me want to finally take the time to read these freaking 70 volumes accumulating dust in my library. Not gonna do it because I don't have the time but you never know....

A solid 9

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Wants to tell a grand story and butchers it in 5 episodes.

Amazing Action scenes.

But that's it.

I only knew the manga by name but not its story... But this show tries to tell too much in 5 episodes... and among these 5 episodes, 2 episodes are for the grand final... meaning we have basically 3 episodes to introduce all the main characters, get the brunk of the main story, get attached to the characters... somehow... and be hyped for the fights... While it's visually a great live action and I feel the actors were acting manga-like... - I've read in some comments that some viewers felt the acting was bad... but I beg to differ. They're faithful to what you would get in most shounen anime. It's just that it can't work because you have to get "in the moment" and it's impossible because again they PACKED TOO MUCH in 5 episodes!

Anyway It just made me feel... nothing. Also don't get me started on the blue haired girl who literally spends her time crying when she could have helped them fight. Seriously girl? You can heal people WHAT ARE YOU DOING? But this is a shounen... and girls in shounens are only here to cry and be saved. Completely useless.

Final rating 7. It's short and bingeable... But this series is from a 19 volumes manga whose author was so tired of his editor stressing him out to add more volumes given the series success that he decided to butcher its end.
It deserved at the very least 12 episodes to develop what it tried to tell properly. It deserved better. We deserved better. But so be it.

Won't recommend this live action to anyone but if you are like me and sometimes you don't want to watch something too engaging because you just finished something very heavy, this one might do the trick in-between more engaging dramas.

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STRONG pacing issues, engaging storylines resolved off-screen and a very rushed ending.

So finally finished this... Can't believe it took me this long... But I struggled with the first 4 episodes... then was entertained up to episode 10... and then for some unknown reason slugged through the last 6 episodes.
I really wish I liked this as much as everybody else but for some reason this show wasn't "it" for me. I can't say it's a bad show... But reading other negative reviews... I finally was able to put my finger on what made me struggle with this show：

1. The pacing
2. The pacing
3. The pacing

Basically, this show was really good at creating interesting and engaging storylines but then didn't give enough time to them. It spent too much time on the less engaging ones. It didn't deliver on the romantic front for both couple... It was better on the friendship and youthful aspect, but it didn't deliver at all on the most interesting storylines created such at the relationship between Cheong Ah and her father nor between Se Kyung and her daughter or Se Kyung and her father or Se Kyung and her adoptive parents。 I'd rather they didn't introduce these conflicts if they had no intention of giving them a proper amount of time to be resolved in a satisfactory way... when there was a resolution for that matter because some questions are just... not answered. Yes I'm frustrated.

The end was rushed so that's another minus.

Now, most people really enjoyed the show and were able to get over it in spite of its flaws... And I get it, some of my favorites have plotholes and flaws I just disregarded because ultimately these shows delivered on what I cared most... But this show didn't. It introduced lots of storylines and only delivered on those I cared the least while giving some off-screen resolution if any to the ones I cared the most.

This made each episode feel really really overly long to me.

I know I'm part of the minority so don't let my opinion deter you from watching it. I still gave it a 7 which in my book means that it was enjoyable in some way.

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It was COMPLETE NONSENSE, but at least they tried something new.

*Side Note*: If it's too long please, be my guest and skip to the conclusion.

HELLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOO WHERE IS THE POLICE?

Was I expected something good ? Well… Given the poor ratings and MDL viewers being known for being OVERLY GENEROUS with their ratings when it comes to BLs (me included), NO.

But I’ve got to admit I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT BAD.

I've seen my fair share of nonsensical Thai BLs which scripts had as many plot holes as Swiss cheese...

But I've got to say, this one is a WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLE other level. There were so many plot holes in that one that I wondered if there was still any cheese left by episode 5... but never fear, with each passing episode the holes kept getting bigger。

A feast only toped of by the directing which is pretty confusing in the first half: Basically there's nothing telling you that something is a memory from the other world, a hallucination, flashback or a dream. At times memories have the edges of the screen blurred, but at others they don't... this leads to the viewers wasting 1 to 2 minutes each time having to figure out what the hell they’re seeing : Borrowed memories? Flashbacks ( too many)? Hallucinations? Dreams ?

Why not do like most series: change the ratio of the screen for a flashback for instance or use a colored filter for a memory from the other world or whatever。 Give A HINT to your viewers as to what they’re f** watching。

BUT NOPE.

You’re already putting 1000 flashbacks for things that have happened literally a couple of minutes even seconds BEFORE the following scene to try to give a flimsy explanation as to how things turned out the out it turned out anyway. Even better, we have flashbacks with visions incremented. JUST.PURE.GOLD.

Apart from the 3 leads, most characters have no characterization whatsoever… (that’s not to say that the leads are well written, but in this whole mess, they’re the ones with less damage… which granted, doesn’t mean a lot but I digress), and don’t get me started on the blind mother.

Who takes a blind person to a RESCUE mission? How did they get there? How did they know ML1 was there ? Wasn’t she threatened ? How come she’s able to roam free without any problem ? Where were the guards ?
How come she needs assistance 24/7 ? She’s blind not paraplegic for God’s sake ? Do you think blind people are this level of helpless? What are you taking them for ? How come when everybody around her calls one dude, Kram, she still calls him Nop ? Is she also aurally impaired ?

I was also thinking this story happens in a parallel universe where the police don’t exist… But then some characters happened to mention the police several times, so I guess they did… With all the kidnappings, murders, and quick burials without any autopsies, one might wonder where they’ve been but who am I to complain？ And maybe one could argue that it’s the countryside, they’re poor that’s why MAYBE the police don’t know… except some kidnapped characters are supposed to be filthy rich (they say they are, this drama’s budget doesn’t show it though) so how come nobody CARES about their disappearance？

But I’m not going to take a deep dive into this bottomless sea of incoherences, because I’ve already spent too much time on this mess, and there’s a 10 000 characters limit for this review。 And I fear even a 1 million characters review would be too short to point out all of the nonsense PER EPISODE。

If only we’d gotten more Phayu and Jao... Not that these two had any real purpose except providing the standard required secondary couple of this Gay goop but at least these two were real eye candies.
If Tai had any taste, he’s have gone for Jao but since MaxNat is an established pair, we got MonPak… and I’m not complaining. Even if the story’s messy, at least I could grace my eyes with two very cute handsome dudes.

Well, you’ve gotta find solace where you can.

I initially tuned in because the story happens in the countryside… But it became very clear the story was happening in a CORNER of the countryside. Filmed through various similar angles to really show to viewers how little budget they had.

If that wasn't messy enough, the second half has basically the worse directing and transitions I've seen for literally my whole life. I don't even want to blame the director... Because if the directing is this shi*** you can be sure something must have happened behind the screen. Constraints or pressures we don't know, because I don't think any director on this planet can be that incompetent. I've seen beginner youtubers do way better. It's just scenes after scenes strung together by black screen transitions... Literally.

I wish I could say it's pure laziness, but honestly at this degree, the director did it on purpose. Perhaps he wanted to go on strike to get a better salary, but the penalty fee was absurd so he took his revenge with the worse directing in the history of directing.

That's the type of goop you get when you're trying to cram a full novel with an obviously complicated plot into an overly short 10 episodes series with absolutely no budget.

This is SO BAD I was laughing my ass off with each passing episode ( when I was not cringing).
The last 2 episodes turned into a freaking RPG. Characters having to look for something (and how they came to do that is a whole lot of nonsense in itself but again, it’s impossible to talk about how illogical this whole show is) in a deep forest somewhere but since there’s no budget, it’s obvious, they’re literally looking for it in the same forest where their house is… Also said forest is supposed to be far and deep and whatev… But they take less than a day to find whatever they’re looking for and literally even less time to get out of it.

Sigh…

But I wasn’t going to speak about how this drama is the most NONSENSICAL MESS I’ve seen in my life.
No, no, no. I AM NOT.

Maybe instead of spending that much time on useless fanservice, giving more screentime to THE PLOT so that it looks somewhat coherent would have been better? Nah? Oh well, nevermind.

Dear scriptwriters... You do know, people are watching dramas for their STORIES right? If we only wanted to see two guys making out, there's dedicated websites online. First write a story THAT MAKES SENSE and then, add some intimate scenes if the time allows for it. Not the opposite.

After enduring all that mess, we get one last incoherency thrown in… or rather two at the very end, which I won’t detail in order to keep this review spoiler-free…

BUT I won’t complain, because although they threw all logic out the window ( not that there was any left), this allows for a happy ending, and I DEFINITELY DESERVE IT.

There's one positive thing though: Nat is still not that good in the acting department... but he has improved A LOT. Gotta give credit where it's due. Some actors were truly terrible, but the script didn't help either so I can hardly hold them accountable for it. I did find a new appreciation for Max. I’m not a big fan of his but given how terrible this script was, he still managed to sell me in both his portrayal of Tai.

Also the Making out sessions were good. I wish they’d transferred all that time to the plot, but since audience want their NC scenes, at least they did them properly。



______________________________________________________________________



CONCLUSION:

Suggested Rating : 4

Personal Rating : 5

2 Points because that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve watched in ages and it made me laugh a lot, but not more because it very obviously wasn’t the intended effect. At least I was thoroughly entertained which is way better than quite a lot of random mid Thai BLs far more coherent but also much more boooooooooooooooooooring than this one.

2 Points for trying. As mentioned above... Too many things to cram in 10 episodes. Even in more competent hands, with such a thick plot, making something descent was near impossible. But it differs from most mediocre Thai BLs I've wasted time on. Overall, it's a step in the right direction albeit a very maladroit one.

1 Point for the make-out sessions. Honestly, I think it would have way better without. But at least they did them well. Some BLs are basing their whole marketing on selling two hot dudes "getting it on" and don't deliver. At least THEY did. If I was younger, that would probably be more exciting for me. But I'm an older bitter woman, it takes a bit more for me to get wet, but I salute the cast's efforts. The directing was what it was, but the actors gave their all.


Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a CT scan to check if I still have some undamaged brain cells left.

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PERFECT from start to finish. Need Season 2 but it's okay if there's none.

As a huge fan of the original manga, I came with NO expectations...
BUT I really like that Korean Spinoff. While remaining faithful to the Parasyte concept, they provided a well-rounded story in 6 episodes with a budding understanding and friendship between host and parasyte as was the case with Shinichi and Migi in the manga.

While I don't know if we'll ever get a second season... which they honestly could, given how the universe is just MADE to be expanded, I'm not too sad if we don't get any.

It's an open ending that gives proper closure on all our mains. You've got to salute the performance. They managed to write a complete story, with well-rounded characters you learn to care about and have a complete character journey. The parasites are depicted as creatures just trying to survive, who don't have ill-intent and somewhat don't understand the hostility they're getting from humans as a whole. It's interesting to see how their interactions with humans made some of them change and learn empathy by the end of the series.

It's action packed, with great CGIs, amazing performance from all actors, with a tight script. Just perfection from start to finish.

Suggested Rating: 8.5
Personal Ratings: 9.5

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This is was terrible but Billy LOOKS HOT ???

Did I expect this to be good? NO

BUT!!!!

Just kidding. It sucked. Well. The main series' plot was already all over the place and completely nonsensical but since they attempted something new and my shallow self is always going to rate up anything Billy stars in, I managed to close my eyes and rate the Sign 8. Not this one though. I'm not THAT forgiving.

I have no memory of any special drama being good, so no dissapointment.
I needed my Billy dose and I got some crumbs mixed with a hodgepodge of nonsense. It's time for Billy to get back to filming some real dramas ( BUT NOT a sequel to THE SIGN), because I love him, but I'm sorry I have absolutely NO INTEREST in adds, behind the scenes, and fake couple interviews. I want actors to do their job which is TO ACT ( yeah I know he sings as well but don't care either)

Also, it was very obvious they were setting up the girl captain and the VERY HOT boss of IDF (don't remember his name but I've seen his abs on another drama and he's top tier in the abs department.... WHAT? Don't look at me like that!) to be hot for each other so why didn't we even get a little love-hate kiss from the both of them at the end? Talk about a let down.

Well this wasn't a complete waste of time...
I got to see some bare chested good looking dudes so... not everything is lost.

What? Did anybody finish this for the story?

At least I'm being honest.

PS: Oh yeah... I'm going to be that person. The child actress is... not good. I've seen her in Love Sea. Drama was terrible but her acting was better. She does witty well but any dramatic scenes... not so much. No hate, she's just young... Not expecting stellar performances from child actors... except in South Korea because child actors there... are just on another level. Must be the way they're taught acting I don't know. Anyway. People raving about her acting... Just nope. Arguably, everybody was overacting in this so there's also that.

Though great production value as usual from Idol Factory.

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