XingBack

Dirt wrapped in facy bow

there are 2 categories that's missing from the above rating system, cinematography which was a 100/10 and plot development which was a meh 5.
so like, the shots were so extravagant, so beautiful, so well though tout, so well balanced, but the story? the backstory for the evil organization was trash. the "twists" eventhough they were shocking were stupid, basically the villains were so smart yet gave away their own lives and worse make a stupid revenge scheme that compromised herself more than her victims..

like sure, sangah was a psychopath, but an elaborate acid water scheme, that obviously put herself at more risk? and the tree bottom becoming an acid pool and boom one push and it's over?
here's how I'd have done it differently. poisoned gas, and she wears a protective mask but it gets cut off by accident and boom we see her suffering chocking on her own plans. (don't judge me, I'm writing this with a writer mindset xD)
her whole persona was "conducting plays", a puppet master if you like, she planned and played everyone, we as viewers needed to see her plans fail and her seeing the wires cut off, that was the real suffering, she had no real power

and suddenly everyone was rich, when her friend got 12 years in prison.. so it was that simple? there was no death mystery cuz she never died. they didn't need to piss sangah off when they could've laundered the money that easily?




some people would look at this as a fancy metaphor for "the top 1% and people exposing their true colors infront of money" or whatever else one likes and they are not wrong
but to me it wasn't that deep. it was just 1 psychopath that married another, and her father conveniently had an organization of psychos that liked to kill to reach their goal, for what? petty angst, why? cuz that's how shallow the writer is
squid games is not a metaphor of rich and poor, it's entertainment. you can ofc see any metaphor you like, it's not wrong. we can all look at the ink on the page and see a flower, a monster, or just a splash of ink.
one and two aren't crazy, and 3 isn't a cynic that lacks creativity. I can look at a literature piece like little women the book, and say it wasn't a rich vs poor, it was just a love story. or personally I think it was more about a woman's position in society, regardless of background, women are forced with 2 options, marry rich or marry love, and the 3rd variable is the rebel's "if I don't want to be either I'll be neither"

I did not compare little womens cuz besides the basic, 3 sisters, poor, artist, material world, nothing is similar. others can see more similarities but no one is wrong


sooo, long story short, as an entertainment piece, ep8 was the best. the psycho's Truman Show was a great touch, the manipulation, the step by step puppet show and everything just being for sangah's enjoyment watching injoo's reaction was a better story choice than the veitnam, sad mommy issues, money, Vietnam and 99% of the show thinking Do Il would betray her. or being over involved in his feelings for injoo when like literally 7m is a great reason for someone to help cuz 70b is way too much to want to escape with

the songs were great, Uhm Ji Won as a calm psychopath is a great addition to makjangs and their recent love for screaming women. Kim Go Eun also rocks heavily emotinal scenes. for me, her meltdown in prison, and sangah's scheme in ep8 deserve to be in the "acting" hall of fame



going to compare this to eve, both are makjang, both wanted to go crazy, and tbh I'm sick of romance dramas breaking up the best couples and say "sad endings are realistic", it's not sad to beautiful people didn't end up together, real sad endings come from death, and the ones that need a sad ending are makjangs, a happily ever after makjang isn't worth all the pain and angst
killing the villain is not a satisfying ending. they get caught? they kill themselves. they go crazier? they fall and accidentally die

real suffering comes from detaching the villain from their power. let their world crumble. and thus, in Eve the ML saw the amount of destruction they caused and what did he do? suicide but with murder. and that's they point, muurrrrder (again don't judge I'm a writer xD) but how to make murder worse? one dies and one lives but loses everything, her memory, her sanity, her personality, her life, and she lives in a state she doesn't know what's real or not, she's just a shell
but I guess Eve got there 1st so this couldn't copy it. and psych ward is the 3rd option for villains anyway

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I LOVE Chu Gyeong Ja, i'd have given this an 8ish but she made it a 10 (the plot kept it from getting a real 10)

This could really do without the icky comedy, but the flow improved in the second half

My oh my gueiimbi baby is all grownup and still a great actress

the trash and parking was a drag, the bullying kid and the ahjummas helping him was so sad especially saying all 4 are his mom
and I appreciated how the husbands weren't cheaters, and they genuinely loved their wives that even though they were scared and wanted to help them, they also let their wives go crazy investigating without shaming them xD i'm glad non said "you're just a mom/housewife stop doing big boy police work"



At the start of ep8, I was like why is the therapist happy she didn’t see the killers face so I teased mom

Then when the small rat was caught and he looked at someone and smiled, and THEY SHOWER THE THERAPIST!
Me and my mom screamed xD
I was still teasing about the security guy but at the start of the ep I started thinking he must be a family member of one of the victims that’s why he’s studying the case so desperately
Tho I still sus the old security guard and if that’s true then the young security guy can be a copy cat fan

But the therapist seeing the small rat and then small rat receiving the book, tho again, young security guy is also literally writing a book


Anyways, if young security guy isn’t the killer she should divorce her husband and go for him cuz their chemistry was off the chart xD

We both did sus the old security guy. The dr last ep gave us a thrill of new hope that was soon demolished

But anyways I kept tasting her that young security was also his protégé tho it was last ep that after he got caught and they showed the letters I realized he was a family of a victim

Unless, they are trying to pull a scream to unsuspect the protégé xD
And old security guy was the one calling the cops on him, to get him arrested, or to get him unsused xD


my favorite genre is female centrist and mystery, but they didn't fully capture the right essence, one of my favorite dramas is avengers social club, the plot could seem nonexistent but their bond was beautiful, and no mystery has shocked me in a long time so old security guy was super sus from the start
as my mom said, every other suspect was "too young"

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For any remake, they would either do it exactly the same and not have leeway to have their own creative ideas
Or change it and lose the original essence

Here, eventho I haven’t seen the og, many say it stayed the same, beside them being in uni and not highschoolers, tbh I feel like 20s is better for groundbreaking star crossed lovers


They also missed out big time on showing both of them playing at the same time to add more urgency
And he could’ve “reached her first” cuz he plays faster and both would be on the piano stool


I kinda interpret it as both dying with the piano cuz she died already in the past and he wanted to go back as the rocks fell on him

So I was waiting for blood to trickle down after he saw her, he gets to confirm the truth and cuz like, he can’t really “live” there if no one sees him besides her

So the ending was abrupt tho I liked their “rule” that the first person she sees is the only person that could see her for the future but they never explained the past


I thought there were things that stopped her from going or appearing, not that she was there but he couldn’t see her

So in the og ppl say he graduated with her so could ppl see him?
Were ppl not seeing her in the future cuz supposedly she already tried to go when the building was demolished and she died, so she didn’t “exist” in the world
Meanwhile him going back to a time he was alive in, so ppl could see him?


and tbh the dads stories were always hilarious xD
It was sad, but he’s in the present so technically he’ll turn around and see his son as a 40ish year old🤣
It’s him that loses his life but he also wanted to run away


Demolishing the old grand piano was ridiculous, like if the present could change, they can just buy the piano before the building is destroyed, so many what ifs…

In a book with time traveling, they’d say you can’t change the past, so if someone survives, they’d hide until the present, and they’ll reappear cuz the future is “unwritten”


But it’s a loop, if she doesn’t die, her mom wouldn’t tell him, so he won’t try to go back, so she’ll die..
Unless the “she disappeared” is about them both running away together, always in hiding cuz no one sees him and they’ll think she’s crazy xD


Also speaking of unseen, I hate when movies do a slowmo and zoom ins when something is mentioned that hints to the truth
Like the balloon pupping, she was hit by the powder, but no one sees her, so moving things, opening doors, nothing was seen besides by 1 so did it really happen?

Also the curtain scene was done so over vaguely I didn’t even see her hand so I was like “ah she’s not really there” xD

And when someone mentions a twist, either she’s a ghost, he is, or time traveling and such

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revenge fantasy

I thought this was like a cringe and silly romcom, then I saw a clip of the last fight on insta and i was like ooh this isn’t a cheesy romcom

But as I watched this I realized this was about school bullying, and sadly no rom

I’m so sorry but Jun is so hot, I mean he’s psychoness is scary but idk if it’s cuz I know his uwu side, or if I have a crazy side but he’s so hot when he’s mad

And fl is xingback approved

The other teacher screaming don’t take off the mask made me laugh so much I think that was another reason beside the fl fighting that made me wanna watch this but I forgot it

Then SHS hitting Jun and him face slamming the principal was hilarious
And her high kicks were so satisfying
Poor bullied ml when he had his meltdown, it BROKE me


I’m kinda disappointed Jun and HSH didn’t have a love line, I’d love to see them in a drama together


I personally think this lvl of bullying is “fantasy” idk like anyone can record and expose bullies if they’re this severe
So in return it was a fantasy to have a former boxing champion who wanted to live a peaceful life but had to unrealistically beat the heck out of a bully to win
I also loved the comedy in the last fight
Also another aspect of severe bullying, leaving is simple and the easy way out

The com tho made me laugh especially two scenes at the end almost made me cry laughing
Jun was hot eventho he was a psycho and shin hye son eventho i see she always does the same type of character, i liked her here especially the fight scenes , I’d totally watch a drama about her fighting, I’d even watch a second season of this

I was gonna say it’s an 8, but soshimin made it a 9 and the comedy made it 9,5

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A character driven story that was overpowered by the plot

I haven’t written a review in a while so bear with me
As a kid I played this Pride & Prejudice game, a multi choice story board with different endings
For example if Lizzy chose to dance with Mr Darcy the first time they met, or if she accept his first proposal, things would be different
How so? In the second scenario he never went back to their mansion, he thought she was a simple win, maybe even after his money so he didn’t love her as dearly

And well getting back to the review, this is what happened here, the setting was simple, a flirtatious girl meets the heartbreaker
And then we started getting constant sidetracking plotlines

For me eps4&5 then 8&9 were the best simply because it was about gilchae, our sweet naive girl’s journey and growth
For her, shoes and boys were her pastime activities , she had no worries, no threats
Her love was a product of that fantasy and “only” future plan for girls, to get married
Anyway as janghyun shook her world and the war broke her world, we get a simultaneous narrative of two different prospectives

To me all men looked at gilchae like she was gullible. They never accepted her feelings and never thought it was anything more than a youthful vigor. And that is the curse of age gaps, men think they’re more mature and have a deeper acknowledgment of the world

The fantasy dream of janghyun shows how he never understood or got to see the gilchae that had to mature, from the island but more so when all the male figures in her life weren’t there to “save and protect” them, the women who were raised to stay home and take cover while the men did everything.
So she had to get up, work, make men listen and try hard to show results to gain money to survive while also getting respect as a figure able to plan and plot

I am glad, eventho it was messy, I’m glad they had finally both talked it all out, that was three or more years of two incredibly frustrating people that didn’t show their vulnerability
Every time they had to actually admit their feelings they would switch it up with bickering and teasing that did become burdensome and increased misunderstandings

But anyway if she had gone with him, she’d always feel guilty about her family and he’d think she hated him for it so the best choice was to stay
Just like how janghyun said if he had “went to her faster” he worried she’d get over him and that was basically why he played hard to get, which also led to frustration and made gilchae trust him less

Now they also need ten more eps, so they had to end on heartache but either the husband lets her go, idk how their separation works. Or he dies and she can be free
By then I hope janghyun sees her as a mature person rather than a fancy object in forms of a love interest

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Best manga/anime adaptation

I do believe I haven't watched that many anime/manga adaptations, but this keeps the magical anime world and blends it so well with the real world that it doesn't feel childish, cheap, unbelievable (like my skip beat which deserves a remake xD)
Plus their outfits are rocking tho I wish they changed more, or well had more eps to give us more amazing outfits


Production and quality are really great, better than most jdramas/manga adaptations.


Anyway the writing could get a bit better, I feel like rohan is always too shocked and the explanations are a bit convenient and easy to get through.
I do think maybe even 5 eps season could allow for more character growth cuz there's a pattern of rohan getting into unexpected magical situations eventho he too has magic and he's always surprised and then it's solved
So more eps would allow for one villain to stay longer and maybe get a bit more depth, more character, friends and more dependency. Right now it's rohan, his guest appearing assistant vs 1 day villains

Anyway still a great yearly tradition and I hope they continue ❣

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Repetitive storyline but heartwarming results

Everyone needs love, family, and happiness but not everyone is blessed with it. What makes a family? It's the bond, the understanding and the purity of the heart

This was beautiful and exactly my style, It's a simple linear story, but I could easily give up romance dramas just to get stories like this T_T
Beautiful unexpected friendship that lead to famimance is my FAVORITE
I smiled, I teared up and I CRIED at the end TT_TT
The roommate program should be a real thing, ppl that are left behind by their families and ppl that are abandoned by their families untie to find pure love and bonding is the most beautiful form of loveT_T
ML was such a precious pure baby I'd actually love a romance based on his character, I feel like he was the 2nd lead of his own crush xD
Halmae and her ending were so sweet and sad, she put a wall on her heart but she never threw rocks at ppl. I mean like she only put a distance for her own protection but it didn't stop her from being kind ;(

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Educational cliche drama

Just like webdramas about almonds, this was a drama educating and encouraging ppl on stock investments. From a running man ep, it seems the new korean trend is investment so this was a cute and fun way to showcase what it feels like to invest. The losses, the addiction, and the benefits

Cliches are never dead so atleast it was done a bit differently, more comedic that it didn't take itself seriously and the ending was so fulfilling honestly it's like a breath of fresh air with 22's sad endings

The bonds were cute, han jieun was the highlight and the cherry that carried this show, the comedy fell a bit short but HJE kept it fresh
I like hong jong hyun and missed him in dramaland but his character did feel a bit bland, he was always too careful that he didn't feel that happy or in love. I did like his past pretrauma tho

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This started out as a 10, so an 8 is the most I can give out now
it was just misunderstanding, miscommunication, mistreating the kids, horrible adults that raised them wrong, blamed them and hurt them then hid it
the mystery was meh, the resolution was meh, the way everyone was involved was meh, the way they brought back the stalker again was meh

it started out great, new meeting, dark comedy, the link taking away the awkward "can I talk to that person" stage every drama hates, so instead of enemies to lovers which is the easy answer to keep 2 ppl remeeting, their link made them get to know each other slowly

I was still on board with the past connection and healing, I was ok with the mystery not even being a focus, I was not ok when they reopened their 2nd case, I was over it when they started the sob story of "should we breakup" and I was done by ep15 when they finally went to solve their big mystery. and ep16 was the worst in dragging it out even more

tho I liked two scenes of the ending, the mom and grandma bus scene, and the 2 cops with the cop car xD I also liked the ost with the kid's voice, tho I hated the overly over happy ending

jingoo is as always amazing, the mom and grandma were the highlight, the hot cops were a new discovery

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The FL was amazing, the ml cute enough though I hated his and kwangsoos type casting
Sehun had so little scenes. Though I could proudly tell my mom that's our baby.

I don't like the other fl as an actress and I was meh about it but in the end it was cute especially sehunie's character being the cold chic dude softening up with her
The penguins were THE BEST. When the little dude slapped kwangsoo? Comedy GOLD❣
there were a couple of great Comedy scenes like when ML told kwangsoo to grab his neck amd kwangsoo strangled him🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Tbh the graphics were cheap looking. Like pirates of the Caribbeans look better.. it just felt like they were on sets and in one scene the filter for the sky made a weird circle around fls head..

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this is not my type of story though the "inspired by real events" always gets me.
though the movie was not boring during the 2 hours, I still wished for a little more touching moments, and maybe angst but not devastation

like they could've bonded more during the night, they could've cooked together, the kids could've played together, the adults could've talked about books or music, something that gave the parting a more bitter feeling

I've actually seen a few movies like this, and I'm actually glad there was no sudden hidden evil because no matter what, there was too much evil there ;(
though I knew someone was bound to die, no wonder I liked Koo Kyo Hwan, he's the D.P cutie! that makes it sadder ;(

behind every conflict, behind every war, there's normal people who want normal things but they're in situations they can't control ;(

sad, heartbreaking, violent, scary, devastating and yet heartwarming and hopeful TT_TT

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a sweet twist in a cliche story

I loved their time traveling concept, I don't think anyone did it before, they either travel and become their future/past or they act like different people. but this was a sweet story about self love, forgiveness and dealing with loss, whether it's a family member or a dream


the romance started off as promising but the moment he changed cuz he knew "they met as kids" just ruined it, it took away any chance of development and just jumped into the last stages of "love", honestly even when they stood by each other I never saw them as anything more than sweet friends so I wasn't happy with the abrupt ending


Anthony was useless from start to end, he was such a waste of time, he starts off as a selfish jerk and suddenly he's thrown under a buss by using the current event of "celebrity bullying" and they ended it by ruining his career, making him retire then give up all of his money and opening a restaurant... that's not the answer. he was never in it for the acting so that fact alone makes his arc useless, that whole thing about him "finding" his passion for acting and chasing the writer for his role, all of it was gone
you can't just end it with that. his problem wasn't his past, he was a tiny looser bully that was beaten up by a girl, he was no threat, but worse he grew up and he always disrespected his staff and yet that all just disappeared and then they made the manager just like him. that sort of treatment to the staff is as bad as bullying ;/





anyway, even though KYK was a sweetie, the only good points were the hani's story and the OST.

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a repetition of s1

the story and the pace were EXACTLY like s1. byul didn't want to do variety shows so she switched places with daeun and the evil bully teammate still bullied her while they added another guy bully and a male saesang ;/

for one thing Shin Jun Seop and Park Bo Yeon can't act. their dialogues are awkward and their expressions are frozen. it didn't help that they gave Park Bo Yeon weird contact lenses and that just made her 0o0 expression worse..

Lee Ki Taek was better but after a certain point his character got creepy, there's a fine line between flirting and being clingy. for one he was smart so he knew she was dating Jung Woo and she friend zoned him several times while also telling him "no I'm not interested in you" but he kept using their work for skinship ;/

and when Yoo Hwa In seemed like the most normal one she turned out to be in a one sided crush with jungwoo too, and sure she didn't act on it or get jealous but at the end she seemed desperate to tell him "I like you but sadly you're taken"


also the things the saesang said was alarming. is it just for conflict or is what kfans really think? becasue they shouldn't normalize that. idols are not puppets or avatars...

jisoo was the best part but again it was just too similar to s1 but with a more solid relationship, atleast the fans and the media left them alone

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when the movie started it seemed out of place, nothing happened until this voice (that was obviously Takahashi Issei) tells the fl follow your neighbor, and suddenly there's a swooosh and the real explanation happens.

Takahashi Issei really did a great job, he was his sweet usual awkward uwu but still he gave off a great confident smart guy vibes (that's until the climax)
Kawaguchi Haruna was a sweet calm type of fl, she heard a weird request but she didn't mind it until the voice disappears and she wonders "what the heck was that". so she talks to her neighbor and he mentions a time loop theory that honestly was so simple I'm still annoyed at those cheap attempts in TKEM.


but after the cute little dates while they hunt for answers, the self conscious side of Hirano Susumu jumps out and he breaks up with her, then to no ones surprise he realizes he's indeed the voice that saved her.
so they basically have this dramatic breakup, the fl lives her normal life while waiting for her d-day and boom the ml comes like, you were right, it was me and I like you. that was soooo underwhelming

then when she asks "why did your past self save me" he goes with "it was love at 1st sight".. so they never showed that 1st time alteration. sure he liked her, but like he probably witnesses her death and he'd be heartbroken, but why did it take him a year? why did he live in her apartment? how did he even know he could talk to her?
in the 2nd attempt he says "it's a miracle" becasue after changing his own fate he runs back to her house. but what did 1st attempt Hirano Susumu do? did the old landlord know something? I wish they elaborated on that instead.

like the breakup was unnecessary, though he did need a push to change himself, becasue he wallowed in self pity too much. so they could've just said, you follow your path and I'll meet you again when I find my dream like normal mature people ;D
the whole movie kinda felt like 2010s kdrama that I was surprised it came out in 2019, but again the time alteration was nice and the acting was better~

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