ThatWheatFlour

100% Rewatch Material!

The heading's pretty on-the-nose, but you'll most likely find yourself doing just that, even if you're not the type of person to rewatch anything like me.

First off, I believe the production team wouldn't have been able to manifest their vision if it weren't for the cast of completely cohesive actors. Jung Jin Young and Park Sung Woong in particular carried the entirety of the movie, which isn't surprising considering the plot mostly revolves around their characters. Both honoured their body-swapped roles extremely well- high praise to Jin Young, who managed to impressively pull off the mannerisms and idiolects of a wealthy, middle-aged criminal corporate without making it awkward or cringey.

This may sound slightly comical, but I personally love how they chose to focus more on Pan Soo's love story (in Dong Hyun's body) for quite a large portion of the movie. Somehow, it reinforced his sincerity considering he was limited to confessing in a high-schooler's body, not caring about the heavy scrutiny by disturbed strangers who have no clue about his situation. And hey, it enabled a lotta funny scenes too, which is always a plus.

I loved Man Chul and Mi Sun; both took their roles above and beyond, with the former providing much of the comic relief of the movie and the latter perfectly demonstrating the sentimentalities of a single mother struggling to move on from her first-love.
The order of this review is completely freaked up but I really appreciated the use of Pan Soo to physically destroy Dong Hyun and Hyun Jung's bullies, shedding light on the common crisis of school bullying. It would've been better if Jin Young lost the fatsuit, however, rather than vanquishing the bullies and undergoing a 'massive' change in his appearance to earn further, romantic attention from classmates who otherwise wouldn't have batted an eye. I mean, considering the other two victims of bullying weren't exactly bullied for their appearance, Dong Hyun didn't have to be any different, especially 'cause he's the protagonist of the movie.

All in all, I rate the movie a solid 9.5- here's to a hilarious, oddly-touching and wildly entertaining body-swapping flick!

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A stupidly funny mini-series that made me yearn for more.

Hibiki's humour reminded me a lot of Haruta's in Ossan's Love - characterised by silly, exaggerated facial expressions and confused colleagues who have no clue what is going on beyond the fact that the former is a strange man.

Each character was nicely introduced and depicted, considering the series' short-lived reign - although I would have loved to learn more about each bartender. The bonds between the customers were pretty well-encapsulated, too - and I loved the accompanying cut scenes for each couple.

It goes without saying that I also loved the inclusion of historical explanations and recipes for each drink; learning what inspired each beverage and where they came from was incredibly interesting. Regardless of whether people are interested in making said beverages themselves, it is pretty cool knowing what makes up a mojito or that the screwdriver can be traced back to oil field workers in Iran.

All in all, an incredibly effective, crazy-funny drama - I think I'd definitely rewatch.

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Blue-Skied, Sentimental Prowess.

Man...words fail me whenever I seek to convey what I felt watching this. From the stellar casting to the absolute BANGER of an opening- one I can't skip no matter how hard I try under an urgent time limit- Miseinen remains an authentic Japanese drama till the end. Regardless of whether they remained unfaithful to the original WEBTOON, Miseinen stands out in itself as a reliable coming-of-age that touches upon multiple facets of growing teens' lives- from verbal and physical abuse to alcoholism and its consequences to that rebellious teen phase of smoking to undesirable high-school hierarchies. Such facets are both under-represented and overly-exaggerated in media, but it felt natural and almost expected of Haruki to descend into that spiral of self-loathing and play up to the role he was designated by peers. The duality between his and Minase's characters isn't unnatural and doesn't feel forced- from that first, awkward encounter to their final, joyful reunion at the very end of the drama.

In summary, Miseinen is an emotion that perfectly represents the tendency to make last-minute, spontaneous decisions without a second thought- the type of show I would've liked to watch growing up, when being queer and the queer community wasn't highly represented or at the forefront of mainstream media. The simplistic cinematography, colour schemes and sets also help make Miseinen memorable amongst other gems like Cherry Magic and Happy of the End, living on in our minds to the extent that the sight of a beach, or a letter, or a blue ice lolley unknowingly pull us right back to where we left off. Here's to J-BL- which makes me think- feel like no other.

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