1
1
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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
Was this review helpful to you?
This is was terrible but Billy LOOKS HOT ???
Did I expect this to be good? NOBUT!!!!
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A Tale of a Blank Canvas caught in-between a Good Psycho, a Bad Psycho, and a Non-Psycho.
I guess binging this and not watch it weeks after weeks during the hype do change your perception of the drama.Do I find it better than most Korean bland, sappy poorly acting BLs out there? Definitely.
But is it a good story? Well err... I'm not sure. Instead of "Secret Relationships", I would call this "A tale of 2 psychos" or "A Good Psycho, A Bad Psycho, A Non-Psycho and a cute guy caught in-between though WHY are they all obsessed with him is a mystery" (yeah I know the last title is a bit long.
I went into this one not knowing anything about the plot. The ratings used to be way higher than this, but it has greatly diminished in the last few months... probably due to more recent viewers like me.
If we consider it compared to most Korean BLs... I'd say it's definitely one of the best out there. Doesn't mean it's necessarily good given how much they suck overall but still... HOWEVER if you compare to what it produced by Taiwan, Japan and Thailand ( and I know Thailand especially have some terrible ones, but they produce so many of them yearly that you do end up with a fair share of good ones), it's pretty average. It's longer than most Korean BLs but still too short for what it wants to tell. It's about time we moved to longer episodes. You can't fully immerse your viewers with such limited format.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this one... I don't hate it. But I don't like it either...but again I had all episodes available contrary to people who had to speculate for weeks about how cray cray they both were.
You know in a typical classic K drama we would have witnessed a redemption ark for Su Hyeon and I would be rooting for him instead of the obvious right choice that was Seong Hyeon. My drama red-flag lover self might be unconsciously disappointed I didn't get to watch this ship sail... because do I love my red flags turning green ( something that let's be real... is only possible in dramas). Also I will always be weak against overly possessive male leads. I know it's toxic, but sorry, not sorry, this is my drama jam.
All in all I kept watching for the two nutcases who were the highlights of this drama. Jae Min was truly sick in the head and made for a good antagonist while Su Hyeon was the red flag I wanted to win in the end . Next to them Da On and Seong Hyeon were just too bland as characters. Completely utterly NOT interesting.
Could have been better with Su Hyeon at the center of the story. I wouldn't have preferred a drama focusing on his journey to win back the blank canvas that is Da On whom he was strangely obsessed with... But the length didn't make this possible. Sad for what it could have been.
Maybe that's why I can't like this show I don't know. Given its short length, there could be no satisfying ending except for that one... BUUUUUUUUUUT I want the hate to love, enemies to lover, the toxic overly possessive jealous red flag turning into goop and having to learn to humble himself to get his boy.
Wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't for the hype it got when it aired.
I know my heart should be satisfied with the ending, but I must be into sadomasochism, I will forever mourn that the Su Hyeon - Da On ship never was to be (also both actors had more chemistry in my opinion). Seong Hyeon is a good guy... but in dramaland, I will always root for the red flag as long as he genuinely cares ( but just doesn't know how to express his love in a healthy way), isn't overly manipulative and doesn't cross the rape line. In my head, I'm creating a longer timeline in which Su Hyeon properly redeems himself and wins back Da On who realizes it was always him, and not the other psycho. I'm sorry Seong Hyeon. You're "too good" for a drama.
I WANT THE TEA.
Was this review helpful to you?
