K-Drama 
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Fake Sports Drama
If you're watching for the Go part of this drama, you will most likely be disappointed. It's really just a fluffy romance drama targeting a middle schooler's romantic fantasy (or at least what the writer thinks is one anyway). The only difference is they use Go as a backdrop to make the story unique. 75% of the matches were depicted as CGI action fighting scenes. It really felt like an insult cuz they were like "no one is going to be watching for the actual Go stuff so let's just dumb it down and show fighting scenes instead." One or two animated battles would have been nice to add humor or be dramatic, but they overdid it. Most of these fight scenes were lame and absolutely unnecessary.This drama is extremely cliché. Of course there are some cute moments, but a lot of times I was cringing cuz of the corniness. Let's just say it felt like it was artificially sweetened. The Female Lead is also kind of dumb and ditzy so that was a disappointment for me. I didn't really care about the main couple. My favorite character was the 4th Dan girl. Most of her scenes were amusing. As for the pacing of the drama, the 2nd half is very draggy, especially the last quarter of the drama. It really was a struggle to finish. Overall, this lands under so bad it's good territory. I would recommend it as a good hate watch or something to watch with friends so you can make fun of it. Maybe skip the last 10 episodes though.
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Waste of Talent
Let's be honest. This is a vertical. No one is expecting a top tier drama. The plot is straight out of a Chinese vertical drama, except it's Korean. However, this drama fails at capturing the essence of verticals. Just because it has a trashy makjang plot and is filmed vertically doesn't mean you've got things figured out. Good verticals are great at taking a long plot and compacting it into 1-2 hours with key plot points and straight to the point dialogue. This did not do any of that. How the heck do you film a vertical and actually make it draggy? One scene lasted for over 30 minutes and was basically chopped into 1-2 minute episodes. It was even repetitive within the same scene. It got really dumb and illogical at one point. FL puts a ring on ML and *poof* suddenly they're married without any paperwork.I will give credit where it is due. The acting was decent. It doesn't have an A list cast, but it still has an experienced one with some notable actors. It's a shame they were cast in this mess. Whoever funded this project must've wanted to use it as a flagship drama to promote their vertical streaming service. However, they failed to realize what makes verticals enticing and addicting in the first place. What a pity and waste of talent.
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A Light and Fun Introduction to the Sport
"It's not a loincloth, it's a mawashi!" This drama is a lighter more fun take as an introduction to the sport. It covers a more modern version of the sport on a collegiate level. It has female wrestlers, which I was happy to see because they are less covered when it comes to the traditionally men's only sport. The main character ends up joining the sumo team in order to graduate. He clearly doesn't care for the sport and is only there for the credits. The captain of the team is a girl who is super passionate about the sport and a strong wrestler. Unfortunately, she doesn't get many opportunities to compete and is often ignored by the team's alumni, who often only want to focus on the poorly performing men's team. Both of them have their own challenges that they need to learn how to face. Together they work together to first build a men's team and then bring the sumo club back to its glory days. Sumo is a strange world full of traditions, but I liked how this drama covered it from a modern sport perspective. It is a pretty wholesome drama. The club members absolutely suck in the beginning when they join the team but work really hard just to get one win and make their captain proud. I absolutely loved everyone's character growth by the end.Was this review helpful to you?
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Tainted with Negativity
Standing in the Time is the Chinese remake of Jimi ni Sugoi! Koetsu Garu Kono Etsuko, which was such a positive and inspiring Jdrama. This drama is an okay remake, but it just seemed like it was tainted with negativity. The writers extended the plot and added a lot of angst and drama to do so. The characters were immature, obnoxious, annoyingly selfish, and extremely unprofessional. All of the negative traits of the original characters were amplified 3x.There are probably only 3 characters I liked about the same or better than the original: the editor, the restaurant owner, and the director of the proofreading department. Correct me if I'm wrong, there was a gay supporting character in the original and they replaced him with this young, annoying brat who pretty much slept and played games on his phone all day at work (if he even showed up).
There was just so much super unprofessional behavior that people could get fired over and yet, the characters would get away with it again and again. It was ridiculous. It seemed like the message of the show got lost. The drama went from something about proofreading, work ethic, and the importance of less glamorous jobs to that of the fashion world and modeling (the glamorous side). The direction of the show changed. Contrary to the original story, they focused less on the female lead (main character) and focused more on the male lead. And don't get me wrong the female lead was annoying, but I think the actress did a great job portraying her character. As annoying as the female lead was, the male lead was much worse in my opinion, especially in the second half. I'm beginning to suspect that the drama began to focus more on the male lead's modeling career due to the actor's popularity.
As I was watching this, I tried to figure out what I would have rated this had I not seen the original...the first half I probably would have given it a 7, but the second half really dragged and I wanted to give it a 5. Overall, it's probably around a 6. However, let it be known that the original drama is way better, so if you have not seen that, save yourself some time and see that instead.
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The plot, however, is the drama's biggest flaw. It is super confusing, especially in the beginning because you don't know the girl's origin story. The main character is a mysterious lone wolf, who seems set on helping people along her journey. The more you follow her along, the more gets revealed. You have to watch the drama for at least 5-6 episodes to give it a chance. While a romance subplot does exist, there is little emphasis on it. It wasn't a problem for me, but I can see how many people would have an issue with this. The main reason to watch this drama is for the cinematography, supernatural elements, and for the badass female lead who kicks butt!
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Romcom with a Little Bit of Everything
It was just an enjoyable romcom with an older couple, which is so rare these days. It has that feel good romcom warmth to it, yet also covers some serious issues. In a way it reminded me of Sky Castle, but without the intense melodrama. They did the FL dirty when it came to fashion. Just because she is a mom doesn't mean she had to dress like an unfashionable ahjumma. I was low key getting stressed seeing FL dressed in those ugly sweaters that were tucked into those mom jeans. Anyways, this drama had a little bit of everything. It just hit the spot if you like this romcom thriller genre. They might have tried to bite off more than they could chew with all of the subplots the drama had going on. In a way, the pacing didn't feel too draggy because of them. However, the writing would've been better if they focused on a few. The last episode was kind of slow since they were winding down the story, but I'd say that's normal. It has some flaws so I won't say it's amazing. Overall, it's light and solid entertainment.Was this review helpful to you?
Pretty Cliché Revenge Lakorn with One Crazy Twist
The one thing I have to love about revenge lakorns is that the characters will go to such extreme lengths for revenge all over a simple misunderstanding. Honestly, this drama is technically bad, but it's pretty entertaining. There were so many slipups that were lol worthy. For example, the ML would throw punches and his hand was very clearly not making contact with the other person. Then there was this another scene where FL's arm gets bandaged, but in the next scene the bandage is below the wound and you can see the "wound" showing above. These are just a few examples.Also, this lakorn has one of the most insane plot twists I've seen since Well Intended Love. It gets revealed pretty early on and is so ridiculous and unbelievable that I had a good laugh. Other than this ridiculous plot twist, the rest of the story is very cliché and predictable. It has your typical tropes seen in farming and revenge related lakorns. I ended up fast forwarding through most of the villain related stuff cuz it was boring and predictable. It has the Forced Marriage tag, but it's also a Contract Marriage plot. It falls under the Slap/Kiss genre because ML is aggressive in the beginning and main couple don't get along in the beginning, but there's no slapping and kissing.
Production wise, the quality felt a bit lacking. There's a lot of flashbacks and the sound mixing felt off at times. It just felt super slow paced in the beginning. The acting overall was also subpar. However, I appreciated Sa Anisa Nugraha's acting as May. The way her character was written is another story. Overall, it's cliché, but entertaining. If you don't mind fastforwarding and enjoy watching badly made lakorns for humor, this is one that's worth checking out.
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Not for the weak
Mui Fei is an incredibly well made revenge story with an interesting and refreshing plot. However, it is not for the weak. Much of the content is very dark and contains a lot of triggering content that is very difficult to stomach. A lot of it was sick and disturbing. If you can handle that, then the story itself is very tragic and agonizing. That being said, it was worth it for such an interesting tale. The drama makes you analyze the female lead's life. In the beginning, she gets saved by the male lead, who has very good intentions. However, you find yourself questioning whether he actually "saved" her. It makes you think about sin. It makes you wonder if the horror and supernatural elements are actually real. Speaking of horror, the drama is filled with some genuinely creepy moments. The actress that played one of the spirit creatures did a phenomenal job being terrifying.The writing was surprisingly good. Don't worry, it wasn't painful to watch the whole time. Once the female lead starts getting revenge, it is very satisfying. There's also a morality aspect to the drama. Should she continue to get revenge? Can justice actually prevail when society is rotten? There is lots of thought provoking writing here. With only 10 episodes, it is the perfect length. The drama doesn't get into too much detail of the characters' lives, except maybe the main characters. The male lead's mom was the one thing that threw me off. Her personality around her son versus the female lead was so different and inconsistent that I almost thought it was a different person. Other than that, it was a fantastic horror watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fun, but also silly and cheesy
Penny pincher Jia You Wei had been skimping and saving his whole life when he learns his days are numbered. What's he to do with all that money he'd saved? Blow it all of course. Remembering a vow he made with his friends in his youth, he sets out to find them and fulfill his promise. His plan is to spend his few last days having fun. If the plot sounds a bit familiar, it's because it probably is. This movie is like the Chinese version of Last Holiday, but with a strong theme of brotherhood, friendship, and reconciliation. Despite the seriousness of the main character's situation, the movie manages to be silly, goofy, and light. It's a bit slapstick and cheesy too. There are plenty of heartfelt moments as the main character sets out to fulfill his friends' wishes before his time is up. The movie had its fun moments, but was ultimately a little too silly and cheesy for me. Also, I wasn't really invested in his friends' dreams because the movie rushed through their backstories.Was this review helpful to you?
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I couldn't stand how Kat is childish and speaks like she is 7 years old for most of the drama. It's mainly due to her character arc to show that she becomes a mature woman by the end. However, it's hard to look past. Also, the plot in the beginning is a bit slow, since the main couple doesn't interact that much. Things start to get more interesting once the couple is forced to deal with each other. Overall, the lakorn was pretty decent, especially if you were looking for something a bit different to watch within the forced marriage trope.
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